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The Chicago Fire of 1871: a bottom-up approach to disaster relief

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  • Emily Skarbek

Abstract

Can bottom-up relief efforts lead to recovery after disasters? Conventional wisdom and contemporary public policy suggest that major crises require centralized authority to provide disaster relief goods. Using a novel set of comprehensive donation and expenditure data collected from archival records, this paper examines a bottom-up relief effort following one of the most devastating natural disasters of the nineteenth century: the Chicago Fire of 1871. Findings show that while there was no central government relief agency present, individuals, businesses, corporate entities and municipal governments were able to finance the relief effort though donations. The Chicago Relief and Aid Society, a voluntary association of agents with a stake in relief outcomes, leveraged organizational assets and constitutional rules to administer aid. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Emily Skarbek, 2014. "The Chicago Fire of 1871: a bottom-up approach to disaster relief," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 155-180, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:160:y:2014:i:1:p:155-180
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-014-0175-1
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    2. Skarbek, Emily C., 2016. "Aid, ethics, and the Samaritan's dilemma: strategic courage in constitutional entrepreneurship," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(2), pages 371-393, June.
    3. Rosolino A. Candela & Vincent Geloso, 2021. "Economic freedom, pandemics, and robust political economy," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(4), pages 1250-1266, April.
    4. Yingxin Chen & Jing Zhang & Pandu R. Tadikamalla & Lei Zhou, 2019. "The Mechanism of Social Organization Participation in Natural Hazards Emergency Relief: A Case Study Based on the Social Network Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-20, October.
    5. Veeshan Rayamajhee & Alok K. Bohara & Virgil Henry Storr, 2020. "Ex-Post Coping Responses and Post-Disaster Resilience: a Case from the 2015 Nepal Earthquake," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 575-599, October.
    6. André Schultz & Alexander Libman, 2015. "Is there a local knowledge advantage in federations? Evidence from a natural experiment," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 25-42, January.
    7. Stefanie Haeffele & Virgil Henry Storr, 2019. "Understanding nonprofit social enterprises: Lessons from Austrian economics," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 229-249, September.
    8. Virgil Henry Storr & Stefanie Haeffele & Jordan K. Lofthouse & Anne Hobson, 2022. "Entrepreneurship during a pandemic," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 83-105, August.
    9. Yilun Cao & Yuhan Guo & Chang Wang & Yunyuan Li, 2022. "Evaluation and Optimization of Refuge Green Space in the Central Area of Tianjin for Geological Disasters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-25, November.
    10. Christian Bjørnskov & Stefan Voigt, 2022. "Emergencies: on the misuse of government powers," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 190(1), pages 1-32, January.
    11. Rosolino A. Candela & Vincent J. Geloso, 2018. "The lightship in economics," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 176(3), pages 479-506, September.
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    13. Blackstone, Erwin A. & Hakim, Simon & Meehan, Brian, 2017. "A regional, market oriented governance for disaster management: A new planning approach," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 57-68.
    14. Virgil Henry Storr & Stefanie Haeffele-Balch & Laura E. Grube, 2015. "Community Revival in the Wake of Disaster," Perspectives from Social Economics, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-31489-5, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Disaster relief; Aid; Charitable giving; Natural disaster; Chicago Fire 1871; D64; D71; H41; H84;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • H84 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Disaster Aid

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