Predicting the Path to Recovery from Hurricane Katrina through the Lens of Hurricane Andrew and the Rodney King Riots

Robert Baade (), Robert Baumann () and Victor Matheson
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Robert Baade: Department of Economics and Business, Lake Forest College

No 515, Working Papers from College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics

Abstract: Hurricane Katrina caused the greatest damage of any hurricane in American history. We look at the rebuilding effort in New Orleans through the lens of two other disasters that occurred in 1992: Hurricane Andrew in Miami and the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. The rebuilding effort in New Orleans shares similarities with both events, combining the impact of a hurricane on infrastructure and private businesses, and the prospect of an uneven recovery biased against racial minorities and the economically disadvantaged. Using the experience of the King riots, our concern is that the rebuilding effort will be modest at best in poorer areas and slow to develop. There is the prospect of long lasting negative effects on income in poor neighborhoods. In wealthier areas, the pecuniary incentive for private business and citizens to rebuild is stronger, and in some cases the rebuilding effort can cause net income gains in response to a natural disaster of the scale of Hurricane Andrew. Based on these events, we recommend targeting a disproportionate amount of federal transfers towards poorer areas to stimulate growth.

Keywords: riots; hurricane; Rodney King; Katrina; disasters (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E65 H59 O18 Q54 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2005-10
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published in Urban Studies, Volume 44, Number 11, October 2007, Pages 2061-2076.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Estimating the Economic Impact of Natural and Social Disasters, with an Application to Hurricane Katrina (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hcx:wpaper:0515

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