Ribas examines inequality in the wake of environmental disasters

The foundation of the project traces back nearly a decade.

"The idea for this project began about 10 years ago, shortly after one of the largest and most tragic environmental disasters in Brazil occurred," Ribas said.

The Mariana dam disaster of 2015 near Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brazil, resulted in the loss of 19 lives, 158 homes and the release of 4.7 million cubic metres of mine tailings into the Doce River creating a humanitarian crisis causing $30 billion worth of damages.

While much of the existing research focused on the direct costs of the disaster: deaths, health outcomes and economic loss, Ribas and his co-authors took a different approach. "Our paper asks whether local communities living in environmentally hazardous areas are aware of these risks," he said, "and whether they are compensated for bearing them."

What they found reveals a labor market shaped as much by constraint as by choice. After witnessing disasters elsewhere, workers become more aware of the risks associated with their jobs and begin to demand higher wages in hazardous areas. But that response is uneven.

"Because labor market frictions limit workers' ability to relocate," he said, "not everyone is compensated equally."

High-skilled workers, particularly white men, are more likely to see wage increases. Meanwhile, low-skilled workers often experience little to no change, widening existing inequalities. Even within higher-skilled groups, disparities persist, with women and non-white workers less likely to benefit and more likely to relocate.

"Long-tenured workers, by contrast, are neither compensated nor able to switch jobs easily," Ribas added."But simply providing local communities with more information about nearby environmental risks does not necessarily give them the ability to respond," he said.

Instead, Ribas argues that stronger regulatory frameworks and policies that reduce exposure to risk altogether offer a more equitable path forward. As environmental threats intensify globally, these disparities may only become more pronounced.

Across both presentations, Ribas' work underscores a central tension: while environmental risks can be shared by all, their economic consequences are not evenly distributed. By examining how labor markets respond, and identifying where they fall short, the research adds a critical dimension to conversations around environmental policy and economic equity. As Ribas continues to present, refine and expand the work, those conversations are only gaining momentum.

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