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Working Paper
The political economy of FEMA disaster payments
We find that presidential and congressional influences affect the rate of disaster declaration and the allocation of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) disaster expenditures across states. States politically important to the president have a higher rate of disaster declaration by the president, and disaster expenditures are higher in states having congressional representation on FEMA oversight committees. Election year impacts are also found. Our models predict that nearly half of all disaster relief is motivated politically rather than by need. The findings reject a purely altruistic ...
Working Paper
State lottery revenue: the importance of game characteristics
Previous studies find state lottery sales are significantly influenced by socioeconomic characteristics of the population. We extend this literature by examining how the overall expected value, the top prize, and the total combinations influence sales after controlling for these other socioeconomic factors. We perform our empirical analysis on an unparalleled set of data that includes information for 135 on-line lottery games in the United States. Our results show that sales are significantly influenced the top prize amount and odds of winning it, but that sales are not significantly affected ...