The Electoral Politics of Disaster Preparedness

While experts often call for increased preparedness spending to reduce the damages from natural disasters in a cost-effective way, this call assumes that preparedness spending is distributed to places in ways that would reduce future damages. Using U.S. disaster preparedness spending data from 1985 to 2008, this article finds that disaster preparedness serves an electoral function, with increased spending in competitive counties. This suggests a need for caution when calling for increased spending, as it may be used to achieve electoral ends rather than public safety goals.