Humanitarian Action under Market Pressure

Sebastian Axbard, Reinhard Weisser and Os Ã…dland, Roar

No 20414, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: This paper examines how firms trade off commercial objectives against humanitarian obligations. Using 1.1 billion ship positions, we study responses to 1,395 distress alerts during the Mediterranean migration crisis. Event-study estimates show that commercial ships are about 90% less likely than equally distant NGO vessels to render assistance within the first five hours. Opportunity costs determined by load and trip destination shape merchant-vessel responses, suggesting competitive pressures suppress prosocial conduct. At the route level, traffic on affected corridors falls by 14% over the subsequent year, consistent with re-routing to reduce expected rescue exposure and, in turn, shifting global trade flows.

JEL-codes: D64 D72 D78 F14 F22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-07
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