Dari-Mattiaci & Faure on Disaster Relief

GIUSEPPE DARI‐MATTIACCI, University of Amsterdam – Amsterdam Center for Law & Economics (ACLE), Tinbergen Institute
MICHAEL G. FAURE, University of Maastricht – Faculty of Law, Metro, Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) – Erasmus School of Law

We distinguish among three types of actions that can be taken to alleviate the consequences of natural disasters: precautionary efforts (made ex ante), relief efforts (made in the immediate aftermath of a disaster), and recovery efforts (made ex post). We argue that recognizing this distinction lessens many of the problems that the literature attributes to government intervention and hence expands the scope of government action following disasters. Relief is less likely than recovery to generate oversupply by the government and overreliance by victims.

[See also the ed.’s views on these issues.]