Political Economy of Natural Disaster Measures

Abstract

Societies do not take adequate action to prevent/mitigation and transfer of risk against natural disaster hazards. The public sector needs to intervene in market failures arising from problems such as imperfect/asymmetric information, myopia, collective inertia. Thus, the fiscal burden of natural disasters on public finance can be reduced and social welfare can be increased by the more efficient allocation of social resources. However, the public sector also fails in this regard. There are political motivations that prevent effective natural disaster risk management. Politicians pay more attention to policies that will provide them electoral support in the short term due to the problem of time inconsistency in public finances. For this reason, they do not make enough regulations and investments for natural disaster measures, if the benefits of the measures appear in the long term and put a burden on voters in the short term. They prefer disaster aids due to election supports. The solution to the problems arising from political motivations depends on the establishment of institutional mechanisms to increase democratic accountability and raise awareness of the risks of natural disasters.

Keywords

• Natural Disasters Risks,Asymmetric Information,Collective Inertia,Market Failures,Public Failures

Doğal Afet Önlemlerinin Politik Ekonomisi

Abstract

Toplumlar doğal afet zararlarının önlenmesi/azaltılması, riskin yayılması için yeterince eylemde bulunmamaktadır. Kamu kesiminin eksik/ asimetrik bilgi, miyopluk, kolektif eylemsizlik gibi sorunlardan kaynaklanan piyasa başarısızlıklarına müdahale etmesi gereklidir. Böylelikle doğal afetlerin kamu maliyesine getireceği mali yük azaltılabileceği gibi, toplumsal kaynakların daha etkin tahsisi sağlanarak sosyal refah artırılabilir.  Bununla birlikte kamu kesimi de bu konuda başarısız olmaktadır. Etkin doğal afet yönetimi yapılmasını engelleyen politik motivasyonlar bulunmaktadır. Politikacılar kamu maliyesindeki zaman tutarsızlığı probleminden dolayı kendilerine kısa vadede seçim desteği sağlayacak politikalara daha fazla önem verirler. Bu nedenle eğer önlemlerin faydası uzun vadede ortaya çıkıyor ve kısa vadede seçmenlere yük getiriyor ise, doğal afet önlemlerine ilişkin düzenlemeleri ve yatırımları yeterince yapmazlar. Seçimsel desteklerden dolayı afet yardımları yapmayı tercih ederler. Politik motivasyonlardan kaynaklanan sorunların çözümü, demokratik hesap verebilirliği artıracak kurumsal mekanizmaların oluşturulmasına ve doğal afet riskleri konusundaki farkındalıkların artmasına bağlıdır. 

Keywords

• Doğal afet riskleri,Asimetrik bilgi,Kolektif eylemsizlik,Piyasa Başarısızlıkları,Kamusal başarısızlıklar

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