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Hurricanes, Climate Change Policies and Electoral Accountability

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This paper studies how politicians and voters respond to new information on the threats of climate change. Using data on the universe of federal disaster declarations between 1989 and 2014, we document that congress members from districts hit by a hurricane are more likely to support bills promoting more environmental regulation and control in the year after the disaster. The response to hurricanes does not seem to be driven by logrolling behavior or lobbysts' pressure. The change in legislative agenda is persistent over time, and it is associated with an electoral penalty in the following elections. The response is mainly promoted by representatives in safe districts, those with more experience, and those with strong pro-environment records. Our evidence thus reveals that natural disasters may trigger a permanent change in politicians' beliefs, but only those with a sufficient electoral strength or with strong ideologies are willing to engage in promoting policies with short-run costs and long-run benefits.

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  • Stefano Gagliarducci & M. Daniele Paserman & Eleonora Patacchini, 2019. "Hurricanes, Climate Change Policies and Electoral Accountability," CEIS Research Paper 458, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 17 May 2019.
    • Handle: RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:458
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    Cited by:

    1. Fabien Candau & Tchapo Gbandi, 2023. "When Climate Change Determines International Agreements: Evidence from Water Treaties," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 85(3), pages 587-614, August.
    2. Kakuho Furukawa & Hibiki Ichiue & Noriyuki Shiraki, 2020. "How Does Climate Change Interact with the Financial System? A Survey," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 20-E-8, Bank of Japan.
    3. Dodlova, Marina & Zudenkova, Galina, 2021. "Incumbents’ performance and political extremism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    4. Gualtieri, Giovanni & Nicolini, Marcella & Sabatini, Fabio, 2019. "Repeated shocks and preferences for redistribution," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 53-71.
    5. Elise Grieg, 2021. "Public opinion and special interests in American environmental politics," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 21/349, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    6. Magontier, Pierre, 2020. "Does media coverage affect governments' preparation for natural disasters?," MPRA Paper 101291, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Amirapu, Amrit & Clots-Figueras, Irma & Rud, Juan Pablo, 2022. "Climate Change and Political Participation: Evidence from India," IZA Discussion Papers 15764, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Singh, Renu, 2023. "Priming COVID-19's consequences can increase support for investments in public health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    9. Liao, Yanjun & Ruiz Junco, Pablo, 2022. "Extreme weather and the politics of climate change: A study of campaign finance and elections," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    10. Lauri Peterson, 2021. "Silver Lining to Extreme Weather Events? Democracy and Climate Change Mitigation," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 21(1), pages 23-53, Winter.
    11. Marcel Henkel, Eunjee Kwon, Pierre Magontier, 2022. "The Unintended Consequences of Post-Disaster Policies for Spatial Sorting," Diskussionsschriften credresearchpaper37, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    U.S. Congress; Hurricanes; Legislative Activity.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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