Using more than 750 estimates, we perform a meta-regression analysis of studies examining the
relationship between economic growth per capita and natural disasters. The studies considered are very
different with respect to the type of disasters considered, the sample of countries and time periods
covered, model specification, estimators used and publication outlet. After extensive testing of our
results, we conclude that there exists a negative genuine effect of natural disasters on economic growth
which is increasing over the period of our analysis. Still, the magnitude differs across disasters included
and country sample used. In particular, it turns out that climatic disasters in developing countries have
the most significant adverse impact on economic growth. However, we also find some evidence that a
part of the negative impact of natural disasters found in these studies is caused by a publication bias.