Tornado Damage Mitigation: Homeowner Support for Enhanced Building Codes in Oklahoma

Joseph T. Ripberger, Hank C. Jenkins‐Smith, Carol L. Silva, Jeffrey Czajkowski, Howard Kunreuther and Kevin M. Simmons

Risk Analysis, 2018, vol. 38, issue 11, 2300-2317

Abstract: Tornadoes impose enormous costs on society. Relatively simple and inexpensive enhancements to building codes may reduce these costs by 30% or more, but only one city in the United States has adopted these codes. Why is this the case? This analysis addresses this question by examining homeowner support for more stringent building codes in Oklahoma, a conservative state that routinely experiences damaging tornadoes. Survey data show that support for mandatory mitigation policies like building codes is subject to countervailing forces. Push dynamics, including objective risk data, homeowners’ risk perceptions, and damage experience, encourage support for mitigation. Pull dynamics, such as individualistic and conservative worldviews, and skepticism about climate change, generate opposition. At the margin, the pull dynamics appear to exert more force than push dynamics, creating only a weak basis of support that is not strong enough to overcome the status quo bias in a state that is cautious about regulatory measures. The concluding section offers suggestions for changing these dynamics.

Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:riskan:v:38:y:2018:i:11:p:2300-2317

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