How Information Affects Public Opinion about Disaster Preparedness Spending

• In Event: Poster Session: Science, Technology, and Environmental Politics & Health Politics and Health Policy
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Science, Technology, and Environmental Politics

Abstract

When does the public reward disaster preparedness spending? Previous research suggests that elected officials and policymakers face few electoral incentives to prepare for and mitigate disasters, despite overwhelming evidence that preparedness spending saves between $4 and $14 for every dollar spent in the event of a disaster. This scholarship finds that voters instead reward post-disaster relief spending, which raises questions about the mechanisms driving these results. In this paper, we argue that differences in attitudes about preparedness and relief spending are driven by different amounts of information presented to voters about each type of spending rather than the nature of the policies themselves. We test our argument through two online survey experiments in which we manipulate both information about the effectiveness of preparedness spending, and the amounts spent on preparedness and relief. We find that when people are informed about the cost effectiveness and the amount of money spent on preparedness, they are more likely to reward politicians for these policies. These results have important implications for the understanding of public opinion about preparedness, demonstrating that people reward preparedness spending when they know about the effectiveness of these policies.

Authors

• Thomas Jamieson, University of Nebraska, Omaha

• Nicholas Weller, University of California, Riverside