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US Government Natural Disaster Assistance: Historical Analysis and a Proposal for the Future
Author(s) -
Barnett Barry J.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/1467-7717.00110
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , natural disaster , incentive , business , emergency management , poison control , occupational safety and health , actuarial science , public administration , economic growth , political science , economics , environmental health , medicine , geography , law , philosophy , linguistics , meteorology , microeconomics
Governments often provide grants or low‐interest loans to disaster victims. Yet these programmes have proven to be quite costly. In addition, questions have been raised about associated behavioural incentives. Conceptually, government disaster insurance programmes should be more efficient, consistent and equitable than ex post facto disaster relief in the form of grants and loans. Yet the performance of government disaster insurance programmes has been mixed, at best. This article reviews the history of US federal natural disaster assistance to individuals and concludes with a recommendation for a new government role in the provision of disaster insurance.