%0 Report
        %A Budría, Santiago
%A Betancourt-Odio, Alejandro
%A Fonseca, Marlene
        %T Resilience in the Wake of Disaster: The Role of Social Capital in Mitigating Long-Term Well-Being Losses
        %D 2025
        %8 2025 May
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 17907
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp17907
        %X Climate change is intensifying the frequency and severity of weather-related natural disasters. These events generate significant monetary and non-monetary costs, undermining individual and societal well-being. Using a nationally representative longitudinal dataset from Australia, this study explores the dynamics of well-being before, during, and after natural disasters, with a particular focus on the mediating role of social capital. We employ an event-study design with individual fixed effects to capture both immediate and long-term effects of natural disasters on four critical dimensions of well-being: financial satisfaction, safety satisfaction, mental health, and psychological distress. Our findings reveal that the adverse impacts of natural disasters are profound and long-lasting, persisting in some cases for over 6–7 years, with well-being implications exceeding $1,500,000 in equivalent losses. We find that social capital emerges as a powerful buffer, significantly mitigating declines in safety satisfaction and mental health while reducing psychological distress both during and after disasters.
        %K well-being
%K panel fixed-effects
%K hedonic adaptation
%K psychological distress
%K mental health