Behavioral Responses to Natural Disasters
Abstract
Catastrophic events can dramatically alter existing social and economic relationships. The consequences can be long-lasting and give rise to heterogeneity of behavior across populations. We investigate the impact of a large negative shock on altruism, trust and reciprocity in 30 small Honduran communities diversely affected by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. We conduct a survey of communities and behavioral experiments three and four years after the event. We find that the mean and variance of behavior are nonlinearly related to the severity of the weather shock affecting the community. Also, there is a substitution away from formal local organizations to informal arrangements.Download Info
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Paper provided by George Mason University, Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science in its series Working Papers with number 1026.Length: 31
Date of creation: Jun 2011
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:gms:wpaper:1026
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Keywords: noncooperative games; experimental economics; norms;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
- C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
- C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2011-07-21 (All new papers)
- NEP-CBE-2011-07-21 (Cognitive & Behavioural Economics)
- NEP-EVO-2011-07-21 (Evolutionary Economics)
- NEP-EXP-2011-07-21 (Experimental Economics)
- NEP-GTH-2011-07-21 (Game Theory)
- NEP-HPE-2011-07-21 (History & Philosophy of Economics)
- NEP-SOC-2011-07-21 (Social Norms & Social Capital)
References
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