Natural disasters and cooperation under diversity: Evidence from Hurricane Harvey

Under what conditions does disaster exposure shape cooperation? A large literature examines the relationship between disasters and cooperation. We study how a key feature of the social environment—ethnic diversity—moderates the relationship between disaster damage and cooperation. We argue that diversity shapes different forms of cooperation depending on the feasibility of monitoring. When monitoring is feasible, as in face-to-face interactions, we do not predict a systematic relationship between diversity and cooperation following shocks. By contrast, when monitoring is more difficult, as in the provision of public goods such as climate adaptation policies, we predict a diversity penalty: following shocks, cooperation is lower at higher levels of diversity. We examine these predictions using observational and experimental data from Hurricane Harvey, which generated substantial variation in local exposure to disaster damage. Consistent with prior work, diversity is associated with weaker pre-disaster cooperation with neighbors. Following the storm, we find no systematic relationship between diversity and interpersonal face-to-face helping behavior, but document a diversity penalty in support for climate adaptation policies. A partner-choice experiment shows that civic-association membership becomes a stronger channel for cooperation in more diverse settings, consistent with associations serving as a monitoring technology.