Abstract

Dust storms are a common occurrence for populations residing in semi-arid environments and can result in a variety of immediate and long-term impacts. While previous literature documents many of these short-term e ects, such as increases in various respiratory issues (e.g. asthma attacks, su ffocation) and increases in traffic accidents (resulting from disrupted transportation networks), this is the first study to use exogenous variation in dust exposure due to long-range transport to study the effects of dust storms on health and economic activity. I instrument local dust values using dust observed over the Bod el e Depression of the Sahara Desert, the largest dust source in the world. Economic growth in West Africa is reduced by 3% per standard deviation increase in dust exposure over 2 years. Agricultural yields decline in the year of impact on average by 2%. The effects found here could be a contributing factor to reduced economic development in West Africa, and indicate that dust storms should be considered an important part of geographic endowments alongside other climate indicators.