Do Political Economy Factors Influence Funding Allocations for Disaster Risk Reduction?

Abstract

Considering the importance of political economy in implementing Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), this research investigates the significance of political economy in the distribution of DRR funding in Bangladesh. The study analysed data from self-reported surveys from 133 members of the sub-district level disaster management committee and government officials working with DRR. Employing the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method, we find that political economy factors explain 68% of the variance in funding allocations. We also show that four categories of political economy factors—power and authority, interest and incentives, institutions, and values and ideas—are significantly influential over the distribution of DRR funding across subdistricts of Bangladesh. Our findings offer important policy implications to reduce the potential risks surrounding political economy influences in fund allocation and advance climate finance literature.

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“…While the effectiveness of disaster legislations is context-based, many scholars agree that the law should promote legal coherence in an explicit way across other national laws and policies within line ministries and sectors (Surianto et al, 2019). The legislations should also provide mechanisms through which funding for DRR programmes can be achieved at all levels (Islam et al, 2021). Equally important is the clarity on the procedures for accessing the funds at each administrative level (Mavhura, 2016).…”

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“…For example, in a recent paper Islam et al (2021) study the role of the political economy factors in the public spending distribution for disaster risk reduction (DRR) funds in Bangladesh. Using a partial least square structural equation model (SEM) approach to evaluate the measurement of latent factors and test the relationships between latent factors they found that political economy factors explain 68% of the variance in allocations of DRR funding in Bangladesh.…”