Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Expectations of government’s response to disaster

  • Published:
Public Choice Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Citizens’ expectations about what government is capable of doing and what policies government officials intend to pursue can influence their decisions. After a disaster, for instance, expectations of government’s intent and capacity to assist in the rebuilding process will influence the rebuilding strategies that affected citizens adopt. This article develops a typology that categorizes citizens’ expectations of government response to disaster. We then deploy this typology to identify expectation patterns among residents and other private actors in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward communities who have returned following Katrina and explain how these expectations shape their preferred rebuilding strategy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen, G. (2006). New Orleans officials unveil rebuilding plan. Morning Edition, National Public Radio, January 12.

  • Boettke, P., Chamlee-Wright, E., Gordon, P., Ikeda, S., Leeson, P., & Sobel, R. (2007). The political, economic, and social aspects of Katrina. Southern Economic Journal, 74(2), 363–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosman, F., Bakker, H., de Wit, P., Noorthoorn, E., Fullilove, R., & Fullilove, M. (2007). Envisioning “complete recovery” as an alternative to “unmitigated disaster”. Souls: a Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture & Society, 9(1), 4–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunsma, D., Overfelt, D., & Picou, S. (2007). The sociology of Katrina: perspectives on a modern catastrophe. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan, J. (1979 [1999]). Politics without romance. In The collected works of James M. Buchanan: Vol. I. The logical foundations of constitutional liberty (pp. 45–59). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan, J., Tollison, R., & Tullock, G. (Eds.) (1980). Toward a theory of the rent seeking society. College Station: Texas University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caplan, B. (2001). What makes people think like economists? Evidence on economic cognition from the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy. Journal of Law and Economics, 44(2), 395–426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caplan, B. (2007). The myth of the rational voter: why democracies choose bad policies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chamlee-Wright, E. (2007). The long road back: signal noise in the post-Katrina context. The Independent Review, 12(2), 235–259.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chamlee-Wright, E., & Storr, V. H. (2009). Filling the civil society vacuum: post disaster policy and community response. Mercatus Center Policy Comment #22.

  • Chamlee-Wright, E., & Storr, V. H. (forthcoming a). “There’s no place like New Orleans”: sense of place and community recovery in the Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Urban Affairs.

  • Chamlee-Wright, E., & Storr, V. H. (forthcoming b). Club goods and post-disaster community return. Rationality and Society.

  • Chamlee-Wright, E., & Storr, V. H. (forthcoming c). The role of the social entrepreneur in post-Katrina community recovery. International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development.

  • Chappell, W. F., Forgette, R. G., Swanson, D. A., & Van Boening, M. V. (2007). Determinants of government aid to Katrina survivors: evidence from survey data. Southern Economic Journal, 74(2), 344–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Congleton, R. (2001). Rational ignorance, rational voter expectations, and public policy: a discrete informational. Public Choice, 107(1–2), 35–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Congleton, R. (2006). The story of Katrina: New Orleans and the political economy of catastrophe. Public Choice, 127(1), 5–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corley, C. (2006). Some Ninth Ward families allowed to return. Morning Edition, National Public Radio (May 19). http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5417125.

  • De Alessi, L. (1967). A utility analysis of post-disaster co-operation. Public Choice, 3(1), 85–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Downs, A. (1957). An economic theory of democracy. New York: Harper Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Enelow, J. (1986). The stability of logrolling: an expectations approach. Public Choice, 51, 285–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Escaleras, M., Anbarci, N., & Register, C. A. (2007). Public sector corruption and major earthquakes: a potentially deadly interaction. Public Choice, 132, 209–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forman, T., & Lewis, A. (2006). Racial apathy and Hurricane Katrina: the social anatomy of prejudice in the post-civil rights era. Du Bois Review 3(1), 175–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frymer, P., Strolovitch, D., & Warren, D. (2006). New Orleans is not the exception: re-politicizing the study of racial inequality. Du Bois Review, 3(1), 37–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fullilove, M. (2004). Root shock: how tearing up cities hurts America and what we can do about it. New York: Ballantine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, T. A., & Sobel, R. S. (2003). The political economy of FEMA disaster payments. Economic Inquiry, 41(3), 496–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gosselin, P. (2005). On their own in battered New Orleans. Los Angeles Times, December 4.

  • Hartman, C., & Squires, G. D. (Eds.) (2006). There is no such thing as a natural disaster. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henkel, K. E., Dovidio, J. F., & Gaertner, S. L. (2006). Institutional discrimination, individual racism, and Hurricane Katrina. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 6, 99–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higgs, R. (1997). Regime uncertainty: why the Great Depression lasted so long and why prosperity resumed after the war. Independent Review, 1(4), 561–590.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kydland, F. E., & Prescott, E. C. (1977). Rules rather than discretion: the inconsistency of optimal plans. The Journal of Political Economy, 85(3), 473–492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kunreuther, H. (1967). The peculiar economics of disaster. Public Choice, 3(1), 67–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lachmann, L. M. (1971). The legacy of Max Weber. Berkeley: Glendessary Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lachmann, L. M. (1977). Capital, expectations, and the market process: essays on the theory of the market economy. Kansas City: Sheed Andrews and McMeel, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leeson, P., & Sobel, R. (2008). Weathering corruption. Journal of Law and Economics, 51(4), 667–681.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manning, N. (2001). The legacy of the New Public Management in developing countries. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 67, 297–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marcuse, P. (2006). Rebuilding a tortured past or creating a model future: the limits and potentials of planning. In C. Hartman & G. D. Squires (Eds.) There is no such thing as a natural disaster. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, A., & Listhaug, O. (1999). Political performance and institutional trust. In Norris (Ed.), Critical citizens. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muth, J. F. (1961). Rational expectations and the theory of price movements. Econometrica, 29(3), 315–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Natural Hazards Center (2006). Learning from catastrophe: quick response research in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Boulder: Natural Hazards Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • North, D. (1990). Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • North, D. (1993). Institutions and credible commitment. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 149(1), 11–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • North, D. (2005). Understanding the process of economic change. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, M. (1965). The logic of collective action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, M. (1982). The rise and decline of nations. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • powell, j. a., Jeffries, H. K., Newhart, D. W., & Steins, E. (2006). In C. Hartman & G. D. Squires (Eds.) There is no such thing as a natural disaster. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowley, C., Tollison, R., & Tullock, G. (1988). The political economy of rent seeking. Boston: Kluwer Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schelling, T. (1978). Micromotives and macrobehavior. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schelling, T. (2006 [1960]). The strategy of conflict. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shughart, W. (2006). Katrinanomics: the politics and economics of disaster relief. Public Choice, 127(1), 31–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sloane, P. (1991). Experiences and expectations of government services: the older Soviet immigrant. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 6(2), 193–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sobel, R. S., Coyne, C. J., & Leeson, P. T. (2007). The political economy of FEMA: did reorganization matter? Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice, 17(2–3), 49–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sobel, R., & Leeson, P. (2006). Government response to Hurricane Katrina: a public choice analysis. Public Choice, 127, 55–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tullock, G. (1967). The welfare costs of tariffs, monopolies, and theft. Western Economic Journal, 5, 224–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tullock, G. (1971). The cost of transfers. Kyklos, 24, 629–643.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urban Land Institute (2005). Executive summary of key recommendations: a strategy for rebuilding New Orleans, Louisiana. http://www.uli.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ProgramsServices/AdvisoryServices/KatrinaPanel/exec_summary.pdf.

  • Urban Land Institute (2006) New Orleans, Louisiana: A strategy for rebuilding. http://www.uli.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&section=Reports_PDF_files_&template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentFileID=22500.

  • Wagner, R. (2006). Katrina and the social organization of disaster recovery: dissolving a theoretical antinomy. Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice, 24, 143–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, R. (1994). Learning from strangers: the art and method of qualitative interview studies. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, E. G., & Winer, S. (1980). Optimal fiscal illusion and the size of government. Public Choice, 35(5), 607–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, R., & Stein, R. M. (2006). Katrina evacuees in Houston: one-year out. National Science Foundation. http://brl.rice.edu/katrina/White_Papers/White_Paper_9_8_06.pdf.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics and Management, Beloit College, 700 College St., Beloit, WI, 53511, USA

    Emily Chamlee-Wright

  2. Mercatus Center, George Mason University, 3301 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 450, Arlington, VA, 22201-4433, USA

    Virgil Henry Storr

Authors
  1. Emily Chamlee-Wright
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Virgil Henry Storr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Virgil Henry Storr.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chamlee-Wright, E., Storr, V.H. Expectations of government’s response to disaster. Public Choice 144, 253–274 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-009-9516-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-009-9516-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation