In March 2016, a team of graduate students from Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service, under the guidance of Dr. Ren Mu, conducted two empirical studies of the impact of the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal.
Historical Conflict and Disaster Resilience
In the first study, the group examined whether a history of conflict affects natural disaster resilience, drawing data from both the 1996-2006 armed conflict and the 2015 earthquakes. Based on a conceptual framework tied to the literature on conflict and natural disaster, the group found that the armed conflict significantly affected the amount of building damage as well as the amount of fatalities and injured in the earthquakes almost a decade after the conflict ended.
School Outcomes
In the second study, the group examined whether the earthquakes affected school outcomes for children aged 5-18. They leveraged primary survey data collected in March 2016, combined with data from the 2011 Nepal Living Standard Survey, to estimate school enrollment and attendance using the difference-in-differences method. The preliminary findings suggest that the earthquakes negatively affect school outcomes and that the impact is small in magnitude.
Through this Capstone course, students applied their knowledge to produce the following policy briefs and publications.
Policy Briefs:
Brewer, L., Crowder, L., Lee, M., Mikayilov, E., Nepal, S., Perl, A., Hardin Tanguay, B., & Wendelbo, M. with Mu, R. and Ruyle, L. (2016). “The Impact of Conflict on Natural Disaster Resilience: Evidence from Nepal.” Policy Brief. Bush School Capstone. https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00TH36.pdf
Brewer, L., Crowder, L., Lee, M., Mikayilov, E., Nepal, S., Perl, A., Hardin Tanguay, B., & Wendelbo, M. with Mu, R. and Ruyle, L. (2016). “The Impact of Natural Disasters on Child Education Outcomes: Evidence from Nepal”. Policy Brief. Bush School Capstone.. https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00TH32.pdf
Publications:
Brewer, L., Crowder, L., Lee, M., Mikayilov, E., Nepal, S., Perl, A., Hardin Tanguay, B., & Wendelbo, M. with Mu, R. and Ruyle, L. (2016). “Conflict, Earthquakes, and School Outcomes: Two Studies on Nepal.” Final Report. Bush School Capstone. https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00TH2X.pdf