How does corruption influence perceptions of the risk of nuclear accidents?: cross-country analysis after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.

Yamamura, Eiji (2011): How does corruption influence perceptions of the risk of nuclear accidents?: cross-country analysis after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.

Abstract

Japan’s 2011 natural disasters were accompanied by a devastating nuclear disaster in Fukushima. This paper used cross-country data obtained immediately after the Japanese disaster to explore how, and the extent to which, corruption affects the perception of citizens regarding the risk of nuclear accidents. Endogeneity bias was controlled for using instrumental variables. The cross-country analysis showed that citizens in less corrupt countries tend to perceive there to be a lower possibility of nuclear accident.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Natural disaster; Nuclear accident; Corruption; Japan
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D73 - Bureaucracy ; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations ; Corruption; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q4 - Energy > Q48 - Government Policy; D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty > D82 - Asymmetric and Private Information ; Mechanism Design; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q54 - Climate ; Natural Disasters and Their Management ; Global Warming

References

Almond, D., Edlund, L. Palme, M. (2007). Chernobyl's subclinical legacy: Prenatal exposure to radioactive fallout and school outcomes in Sweden. Quarterly Journal of Economics. 124(4): 1729-1772.

Besley, T.,Bergess, R. (2002). The political economy of government representativeness: Theory and evidence from India. Quarterly Journal of Economics 117(4): 1415-1452.

Berger, E.M. (2010). The Chernobyl disaster, concern about the environment and life satisfaction. Kyklos 63: 1-8.

Bliss, C., Di Tella, R. (1997). Does competition kill corruption? Journal of Political Economy 105: 1001-1023.

Carroll, N., Frijters, P., Shields, M. (2009). Quantifying the costs of drought: new evidence from life satisfaction data. Journal of Population Economics 22: 445-461.

Eisensee, T., Strӧmberg, D. (2007). News droughts, news floods, and U.S. disaster relief. Quarterly Journal of Economics 122(2): 693-728.

Escaleras, M.,Anbarci, N., Register,C. (2007). Public sector corruption and major earthquakes: A potentially deadly interaction. Public Choice 132(1): 209-230.

Gokcekus, O. (2008). Is it protestant tradition or current protestant population that affects corruption?. Economics Letters 99: 59-62.

Hammer, J. (2011). Inside the danger zone. Newsweek April 11:28-31.

Hinman, G.W., Rosa, E.A., Klainhesselink, R.R., Lowinger, T.C. (1993). Perception of nuclear and other risks in Japan and the United States. Risk Analysis 13 (4), 449-455.

Kahn, M. (2005). The death toll from natural disasters: The role of income, geography and institutions. Review of Economics and Statistics 87(2): 271-284.

Kahn, M. (2007). Environmental disasters as risk regulation catalysts? The role of Bhopal, Chernobyl, Exxon Baldez, Love Canal, and Three Mile island in shaping U.S Environmental law. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 35(1): 17-43.

Lambsdorff, J.G. (2006). Causes and Consequences of Corruption: What do we know from a Cross-Section of Countries? in S. Rose-Ackerman (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 3-51.

La Porta, R., Lopez-de-SIlanes, F., Shleifer, A., and Vishny, R. (1999). The quality of government. Journal of Law, Economics & Organization. 15(1):222-279.

Luechinger, S., Saschkly, P.A. (2009). Valuing flood disasters using the life satisfaction approach. Journal of Public Economics 93: 620-633.

Pellegrini, L., Gerlagh, R. (2008). Causes of corruption: A survey of cross-country analyses and extended results. Economic Governance 9: 245-263.

Serra, D. (2006). Empirical determinants of corruption: A sensitivity analysis. Public Choice 126: 225-256.

Tabuchi, H., Belson, K., and Onishi, N. (2011). Warnings ignored at crippled reactor. International Herald Tribune March 23.

Toya, H., Skidmore, M. (2007). Economic development and the impacts of natural disasters. Economics Letters 94(1): 20-25.

Treisman, D. (2000). The causes of corruption: a cross-national study. Journal of Public Economics 76 (3): 399-457.

Viscusi, W K., Zeckhauser, R.J. (2006). National survey evidence on disasters and relief: risk beliefs, self-interest and compassion. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 33 (1/2):13-36.

Zeckhauser, R.J. (1996).The economics of catastrophes. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 12 (2/3):113-140.

WIN-Gallup International. (2011). Global Barometer of View on Nuclear Energy after Japan Earthquake. Volume 1: Tabular Presentation of All 8 Questions Country-wise. WIN-Gallup International.