TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluating wildfire exposure
T2 - using wellbeing data to estimate and value the impacts of wildfire
AU - Johnston, David W.
AU - Önder, Yasin Kürşat
AU - Rahman, Muhammad Habibur
AU - Ulubaşoğlu, Mehmet A.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the journal’s Co-Editor-in-Chief Professor Daniela Puzzello, an Associate Editor, and three anonymous referees for reviewing and providing constructive insights into this paper. Mehmet Ulubaşoğlu gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, the Commonwealth Government of Australia, for the project titled Optimising Post-Disaster Recovery Interventions in Australia. David Johnston acknowledges financial support from the Australian Research Council (ARC Discovery Project grant DP170100177). This paper uses unit record data from Release 18 of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, Waves 2-11 (2002-2011). The HILDA Survey Project was initiated and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS) and is managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (Melbourne Institute). The findings and views reported in this paper, however, are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the DSS or the Melbourne Institute. All errors are our own.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - This paper estimates the wellbeing effects of the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires, the deadliest wildfire event in Australia's known history. Using subjective wellbeing data from a nationally representative longitudinal study and adopting an individual fixed-effects approach, our results identify a significant reduction in life satisfaction for individuals residing in close proximity of the wildfires. The negative wellbeing effect is valued at A$52,300. This corresponds to 80% of the average annual income of a full-time employed adult in the state of Victoria. The satisfaction domain most negatively affected is how safe the person feels, and the group most affected are people with low social support. A delayed adverse mental health effect is also identified.
AB - This paper estimates the wellbeing effects of the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires, the deadliest wildfire event in Australia's known history. Using subjective wellbeing data from a nationally representative longitudinal study and adopting an individual fixed-effects approach, our results identify a significant reduction in life satisfaction for individuals residing in close proximity of the wildfires. The negative wellbeing effect is valued at A$52,300. This corresponds to 80% of the average annual income of a full-time employed adult in the state of Victoria. The satisfaction domain most negatively affected is how safe the person feels, and the group most affected are people with low social support. A delayed adverse mental health effect is also identified.
KW - Georeferencing
KW - Life satisfaction
KW - Wildfires
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119434456&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.10.029
DO - 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.10.029
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85119434456
SN - 0167-2681
VL - 192
SP - 782
EP - 798
JO - Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
JF - Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
ER -
