The Donations Gap and the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season: Explaining Why Puerto Rico's Disaster Relief Operations Post-Maria Received Fewer Charity Contributions That Similar Efforts in Texas or Florida

This investigation analyzes donors' financial contributions to recovery efforts in communities afected by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. We use different sources of donations data to demonstrate that Americans and U.S. corporations and foundations may have donated more money to recovery op...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Centro journal 2021-03, Vol.33 (1), p.154-193
Main Author: Yordan, Carlos L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
2017 AD
2018 AD
Americans
Analysis
Charities
Charity
Disaster management
Disaster relief
Donations
Donors
Fatalities
Fatigue
Hurricanes
Media coverage
Money
Natural disasters
Nonprofit organizations
Politics
Recovery
Storms
Surveys
Texas
Victims
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Summary:This investigation analyzes donors' financial contributions to recovery efforts in communities afected by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. We use different sources of donations data to demonstrate that Americans and U.S. corporations and foundations may have donated more money to recovery operations on the U.S. mainland than to similar efforts in Puerto Rico. To explain this donations gap, we examine the vast academic literature on charity making to advance fve possible explanations. The first one considers whether donors' fatigue explains this discrepancy. The second explanation surveys the amount of media coverage generated by each hurricane, while the third explanation looks at Americans' level of interest in each hurricane's efects. The fourth explanation considers whether donors understood the challenges faced by the communities directly afected by these storms. The last explanation considers whether cultural similarities between donors and victims afects charity-giving during natural disasters. [Keywords: Puerto Rico, disaster relief, charitygiving, donations, Hurricane Maria, hurricane recovery]
ISSN:1538-6279
2163-2960