Citation for published item:hmnD wF rF nd enriD xF nd fhtthryD F F nd lu sogluD wF eF @PHIUA 9gn extreme rinfll trigger demorti hngec the role of )oodEindued orruptionF9D uli hoieFD IUI @QERAF ppF QQIEQSVF Further information on publisher's website: httpsXGGdoiForgGIHFIHHUGsIIIPUEHIUEHRRHEI Publisher's copyright statement: This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Public choice. The nal authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details.
AbstractUsing a new dataset of extreme rainfall covering 130 countries from 1979 to 2009, this paper investigates whether and how extreme rainfall-driven flooding affects democratic conditions. Our key finding is that extreme rainfall-induced flooding exerts two opposing effects on democracy. On one hand, flooding leads to corruption in the chains of emergency relief distribution and other post-disaster assistance, which in turn impels the citizenry to demand more democracy. On the other hand, flooding induces autocratic tendencies in incumbent regimes because efficient post-disaster management with no dissent, chaos or plunder might require government to undertake repressive actions. The net estimated effect is an improvement in democratic conditions.