Resource Economics http://lists.repec.org/mailman/listinfo/nep-res Resource Economics 2026-03-02 The Convexity of Hurricane Damages https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amz:wpaper:2026-06&r=&r=res Most economic studies of environmental disasters focus on event occurrence, typically using difference-in-differences methods. However, intensity is often the more relevant margin. We study hurricanes, whose intensity is projected to increase with climate change while changes in frequency remain uncertain. We exploit spatial asymmetries in storm dynamics to causally identify how damages vary with intensity. In the Northern Hemisphere, translational and rotational winds reinforce each other on the right side of storms, creating a natural fuzzy discontinuity. In addition, short-run fluctuations in the position of the Bermuda High, a large high-pressure system over the Atlantic, influence hurricane trajectories near the U.S. coast, generating quasi-random variation in regional exposure. In this preliminary draft, we show how these physical mechanisms can be used to identify exogenous variation in hurricane intensity at the local level, laying the groundwork for estimating how damages scale with intensity in future iterations of this working paper. Cohen, François Sarmiento, Luis Stuka, Yannik Hurricanes; Intensity; Asymmetry; Convexity; Damages; United States 2026-02 Decentralising environmental public spending: from political platforms to actual policies in the EU countries https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:0526&r=&r=res Environmental challenges increasingly shape political discourses across Europe, yet their influence on actual environmental governance remains unclear. This paper examines the political economy mechanisms linking environmental change, party platforms, and the decentralisation of environmental protection expenditure in 27 EU member states from 2002 to 2022. We distinguish between political signalling - the commitments parties make in electoral manifestos - and policy implementation, measured through actual decentralised environmental spending. Our results reveal a sharp asymmetry: while extreme events substantially increase the salience of environmental protection in party platforms, they do not translate into changes in the territorial allocation of environmental expenditure. Instead, decentralisation responds primarily to long-term structural conditions, such as the relative weight of locally versus globally relevant emissions. Political orientations of governing coalitions, whether on environmental issues or decentralisation, show no systematic association with spending outcomes. Taken together, these findings highlight a persistent gap between electoral incentives and policy implementation in multilevel environmental governance, consistent with public-choice theories emphasising institutional inertia and limited political responsiveness beyond the stage of platform competition. Federica Lanterna Giovanni Marin Agnese Sacchi Decentralisation; environmental protection; natural disasters; political announcements; voters preferences 2026-02 The Long Run Effects of Earthquakes on Individuals’ Behaviour and Preferences. A Field Experiment in Italy https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahy:wpaper:wp67&r=&r=res In this paper, we report the results of a field experiment conducted in Southern Italy in 2023, analysing the behavioural effects of earthquakes as far as trust, trustworthiness, and risk aversion are concerned. The experiments were conducted in an area where a disastrous earthquake occurred in 1980 within the Campania region. Our working hypotheses aim at testing whether there are long-term effects of an earthquake. The experimental design comprised two treatments. For the first treatment, we recruited subjects living in towns close to the earthquake epicentre that had experienced significant damage from the disaster. For the second treatment, we recruited subjects living in towns with similar socio-economic characteristics but located far from the epicentre. Our results indicate that subjects who experienced the earthquake and its aftermath are more willing to trust, reciprocate kindness, and are more risk-averse than subjects in the alternative treatment. Overall, our results shed new light on the long-term effects of catastrophes and bear relevant implications for public and health policies. Giuseppe Attanasi Annamaria Nese Patrizia Sbriglia Luigi Senatore Field Experiments, Environmental Disasters, Trust, Risk Aversion 2026-02