Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Predicting The Path To Recovery From Hurricane Katrina Through The Lens Of Hurricane Andrew And The Rodney King Riots, Robert Baade, Robert Baumann, Victor Matheson

Economics Department Working Papers

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 …