Of Disasters, Status, and Health

Abstract

This paper examines if socioeconomic status can explain the way health is affected from exposure to environmental extremes. The paper starts with the hypothesis that deficits in health in the event of a disaster may overlap with deficits in achieved and ascribed social status at the time of the disaster event. To test this hypothesis, the paper draws upon a rich dataset from flood-devastated Bangladesh, and describes disease incidences across various poles of social and identity stratification. Causal roles of different indicators of socioeconomic status (viz., consumption expenditure, education, occupation, and asset ownership), vis-à-vis severity of disaster exposure, in affecting disease incidences are then analyzed, taking into account the differences in innate physiological status of exposed individuals (as determined by their age and gender). In light of the empirical results, the paper fails to reject its initial hypothesis, and concludes: while disaster exposure increases risk of ailment, this risk is independently affected by social deprivation and inequities embedded in a stratified society.