Poverty and hurricane risk exposure in Jamaica

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of hurricane risk exposure on poverty. To achieve this, we use a small area poverty mapping methodology to simulate our measure of poverty for households in Jamaica. Along with calculated hurricane wind exposure estimates that take account of the type of building material which matters for wind vulnerability, we calculate future risks for household poverty under different RCP8.5 climate change models. In general, we find that without wind resistant building material, substantial increases in poverty are likely under most models. The results are indicative of policy instruments needed to counteract the future risk of increases in poverty.