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Silver lining of the water: The role of government relief assistance in disaster recovery

Akbulut-Yuksel, Mevlude; Rahman, Muhammad Habibur; Ulubaşoğlu, Mehmet Ali

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Authors

Mevlude Akbulut-Yuksel

Mehmet Ali Ulubaşoğlu



Abstract

Combining three datasets, the Australian Longitudinal Census Panel of 2006 and 2011, engineering data on flood-water height, and administrative data on government relief assistance, we investigate whether and how the government’s post-disaster relief payments helped the economic recovery from riverine floods that struck the state of Queensland in Australia in 2010/11. Using a difference-in-differences methodology that compares the flooded areas with unflooded zones within Queensland whereby the flooded zones differed in their levels of flooding and the government’s relief assistance, we find that the government’s disaster relief assistance was effective in economic recovery, having led individuals residing in flooded areas with average flood height to experience a 3.4 percent rise in (self-reported) income following the disaster, relative to those individuals living in unflooded areas of the state. Our findings are robust to a battery of sensitivity tests, including migration, parallel trends, spatial spillovers, and possible confounders.

Citation

Akbulut-Yuksel, M., Rahman, M. H., & Ulubaşoğlu, M. A. (2023). Silver lining of the water: The role of government relief assistance in disaster recovery. European Journal of Political Economy, 79, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2023.102436

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 1, 2023
Online Publication Date Sep 1, 2023
Publication Date 2023-09
Deposit Date Nov 5, 2023
Publicly Available Date Nov 6, 2023
Journal European Journal of Political Economy
Print ISSN 0176-2680
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 79
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2023.102436
Keywords Political Science and International Relations; Economics and Econometrics
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1897710

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