A research project examining the rate of return to
capital in and the post-tsunami recovery process of micro-enterprises. A survey of over 600 micro-enterprises in the
Kalutara, Matara and Galle districts was carried out every quarter. Equipment and cash treatments/ interventions to randomly selected enterprises were administered. Follow-up surveys were conducted after five years to examine post-tsunami recovery of
enterprises.
REASEARCH PUBLICATIONS
“Mental Health Recovery and
Economic Recovery after the tsunami: High frequency longitudinal evidence from
Sri Lankan small business owners”
A sample of 561 Sri Lanka microenterprise
owners affected to various extents by the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
were surveyed five times at quarterly intervals between March 2005 and April
2006. Mental health recovery was measured through questions on return to
normalcy and change in life outlook. Business profits were used to measure livelihoods
recovery. We find that these mental health process measures are correlated with
post-traumatic stress disorder and general mental health in a validation
survey, and display similar correlates to both in the cross-section. However, socioeconomic
factors are not found to be significant in predicting the dynamics of mental
health recovery in a fixed effects logistic regression. Mental health recovery
from a given initial level therefore appears to depend largely on time since
the disaster, and not on economic recovery of an individual’s livelihood.
Published in Social Science & Medicine, Vol. 66, No.
3, February 2008, pp. 582-595 (Available at
www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimed )
“Enterprise Recovery
following Natural Disasters”
Using unique,
panel data and a randomized experiment, we assess the effects of relief aid and
access to capital on the recovery of Sri Lankan microenterprises following the
December 2004 tsunami. Our results show that a lack of access to capital
inhibits the recovery process; firms receiving randomly allocated grants
recover profit levels almost 2 years before other damaged firms. Access to
capital is particularly important for the retail sector; the role of capital in
recovery for manufacturing and services sectors may be limited by disruptions
in supply chains. Our data show that business recovery is much slower than commonly
assumed, underscoring the role targeted aid may play in hastening microenterprise
recovery following such disasters.
Published in Economic Journal Vol. 122, Issue 559, March
2012, pp. 64-91. See: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecoj.2012.122.issue-559/issuetoc
A previous
version of this paper is available as World Bank Policy Research Working Paper
No 5269, April 2010, downloadable from: http://econ.worldbank.org/ (direct link: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2010/04/13/000158349_20100413103243/Rendered/PDF/WPS5269.pdf)