Events

Upcoming Events

Interdisciplinary Workshops on Politics and Policy

Wednesdays at noon, in-person at ISR-Thompson Room 6050 (except where noted). For titles, abstracts and more: Read more about this year’s series.

Recent and upcoming in 2025:

Mar. 12, Talbot Andrew (Cornell University)

Mar. 19, Kirill Zhirkov (University of Virginia)

Check back for details on the the 2025 lineup.

The 2025 Miller-Converse Lecture

Tali Mendelberg, Princeton University
Thursday, March 20, 2023 | 4 pm ET
ISR-Thompson

The politics of disaster prevention 

Despite the importance of effective disaster policy, governments typically fail to produce it. The main explanation offered by political scientists is that voters strongly support post-disaster relief but not policies that seek to prevent or prepare for disaster. This study challenges that view. We develop novel measures of preferences for disaster prevention and post-disaster relief. We find strong support for prevention policies and candidates who pursue them, even among the subgroups that are the most opposed. Support for prevention has the hallmarks of“real”attitudes: consistency across wordings and response formats, including open ended probes; steadfastness in the face of arguments; and willingness to make trade-offs against disaster relief, increased taxes, and reduced spending on other programs. Neither cognitive biases for the here and now nor partisan polarization prevent robust majority support for disaster prevention. We validate these survey findings with election results, which suggest voters act on these preferences.