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SUMMARY:The Effects of Dust Storms on Economic Development (by Timothy For
 eman)
DTSTART:20181211T110000Z
DTEND:20181211T123000Z
DTSTAMP:20181108T082337Z
UID:presentation-91.series-5
DESCRIPTION:Dust storms are a common occurrence for populations residing i
 n semi-arid environments and can result in a variety of immediate and long
 -term impacts. Reports have included evidence of people suffocating due to
  airborne dust\, transport networks being disrupted and leading to traffic
  accidents\, as well as increases in asthma attacks. This is the  first st
 udy use exogenous variation in dust exposure due to long-range transport t
 o study the effects of dust storms on health and economic activity. I inst
 rument local dust values using dust observed over the Bodélé Depression 
 of the Sahara Desert\, the largest dust source in the world. The probabili
 ty that a child survives to age 5 declines by 0.19 percentage points per s
 tandard deviation increase in dust exposure at month of birth. Economic gr
 owth is reduced by 3% per standard deviation increase in dust exposure ove
 r 2 years. Agricultural yields decline in the year of impact on average by
  2%. The effects found here could contribute to reduced economic developme
 nt in the region of West Africa\, and indicate that dust storms should be 
 considered an important part of geographic endowments alongside other clim
 ate indicators.
LOCATION:SR Wegener Center\, Brandhofgasse 5\, 1st floor
ORGANIZER;CN="Douglas Maraun";ROLE=CHAIR:MAILTO:douglas.maraun@uni-graz.at
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