Behavioral Responses to Natural Disasters

Marco Castillo () and Michael Carter

No 1026, Working Papers from George Mason University, Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science

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.

Keywords: noncooperative games; experimental economics; norms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 C92 C93 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31
Date: 2011-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-evo, nep-exp, nep-gth, nep-hpe and nep-soc
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (42)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gms:wpaper:1026

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