Disastrous displacement: The long-run impacts of landslides
This paper estimates the long-run impacts of six major landslides in Uganda, where most affected households received little aid. The analysis combines administrative and survey data from nearly the full population of affected and nearby households with exact landslide paths and a geological model of landslide risk to identify impacts relative to nearby households facing similar risk.
The findings indicate that the positive economic impacts of displacement observed in the economic literature are unlikely to apply to many low-income settings. Most displaced households moved to villages and rural relocation centers throughout eastern Uganda, which are unlikely to offer locational advantages relative to households’ home villages.