Disaster Relief as a Public Good

Following hurricanes Harvey and Irma millions of dollars of private donations have been made to support disaster relief efforts in Houston and Florida.  In three weeks, more than $350 million were raised by private charities to support Hurricane Harvey relief and the federal government approved $7.9 billion in initial relief. Disaster relief is a form of redistribution of wealth on a national level, with money going from people all around the country to people who have been hurt by a natural disaster—and this redistribution can be explained by Mueller’s three justifications of redistribution of wealth.

First, the federal government’s funding of disaster relief is justified as insurance because a disaster like a hurricane is a random event that cannot be controlled.  Though some areas are obviously much more likely to suffer a disaster, there is a chance anywhere could be struck by some sort of disaster, so because of the unknown risk that everyone is under, everyone’s utility is maximized if our government will help people when they are a victim of natural disaster. Second, the millions of dollars given privately to Harvey relief show that Americans have interdependent utility, meaning the utility of Americans depends to some extent upon the utility of other Americans, or at least those who are suffering as the result of a natural disaster.  Third, redistribution through disaster relief is a way of satisfying fairness norms.  People would rather live in a society that is fair and helps people when their lives are torn apart by a storm, so we gain utility knowing we live in a society that complies with our fairness norm of helping people in need.