Innovation as adaptation to natural disasters

Abstract

Can innovation be motivated by past natural disasters? Despite some recent research, the determinants of disaster-mitigating innovation are not well understood? Starting from a conceptual model combining perceived risk theory with the profit motive, this paper investigates the salience of innovation induced by natural disasters, using a unique dataset that includes U.S. patent data, and flood, drought, and earthquake damage data for the years 1977 to 2005. To address the potential endogeneity of disaster damage, I employ the control function approach with instrumental variables constructed from disaster intensity measurements. The results show that impact-reducing innovations at the state level respond to national disaster damage in the U.S. In general, the impact of natural disasters is not localized to a state-that is, disaster damage in a state also stimulates innovations in more-distant states. The findings in this paper highlight a policy role for the federal government in channelling and more effectively spurring impact-reducing innovations nationwide.