Essays on Risk Experience, Perception, and Adaptation/Mitigation Strategies

This thesis includes three essays that examine risk experience, perception, and adaptation/mitigation strategies, which are vital for effective responses to climate change and natural hazards. Chapter 2 investigates how New Zealand farmers perceive future drought risks and how these perceptions influence their climate mitigation and adaptation actions. The data comes from the 2019 Survey of Rural Decision Makers and district-level daily drought data— the New Zealand Drought Index (NZDI) for 2009 and 2018. The findings indicate that droughts have impacted all regions of New Zealand over the past 14 years, particularly the Waikato region in the North Island. Farmers generally expect droughts to become more frequent and intense by 2050, with over 90% believing this will affect their farms. The study highlights age, gender, and education as significant factors shaping these perceptions, with older, college- educated, and female farmers expressing greater concern about future drought risks. Chapter 3 shifts the focus to central Vietnam, asking similar questions. Using panel household data from five waves between 2008 and 2017, combined with monthly high-resolution precipitation and temperature data, the study employs the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) to describe drought events at the sub-district level. As in New Zealand, most individuals expect an increase in future drought occurrence. Households prioritize agricultural and environmental actions, focusing on irrigation and infrastructure management. More frequent past drought experiences lead to an increased perception of future drought risk and the adoption of prevention/mitigation strategies. Chapter 4 examines the impacts of the Canterbury earthquake sequence (CES) of 2010-2012 on individual subjective well-being, focusing on life satisfaction, general health, income adequacy, and safety. Using data from the New Zealand General Social Survey and a difference-in-difference-in-difference (DDD) approach, the study matches this data with residential insurance data from the public insurer to identify the most CES-affected areas, investigating earthquake impacts at a micro-level. The findings reveal significant effects on various well-being aspects, with a consistent decrease in life satisfaction in earthquake-affected areas. Specifically, narrowly defined areas, such as severely impacted meshblocks in Christchurch City (CHC), experienced widespread negative effects across all well-being indicators.