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Bottom-up Responses to Crisis
Book

Bottom-up Responses to Crisis

(Mercatus Studies in Political and Social Economy)

Stefanie Haeffele and Virgil Henry Storr
Palgrave Macmillan, 2020

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Overview
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Stefanie Haeffele and Virgil Henry Storr, both Hayek scholars at George Mason University, present seven essays in this academic but useful overview of current thinking on disaster response and the sometimes hidden strengths of communities. The essays focus on public versus private roles, and report findings that in a crisis, decentralized, local, private networks can respond more effectively than federal agencies. The authors envision a more contained government role, advocating instead for greater local resilience and responsibility. They conclude that strong communities often provide the best defense against disaster.

Take-Aways

  • Disasters can be economic, natural or political. Governmental responses are not always the most effective solutions.
  • Marginalized, vulnerable communities can participate in bottom-up recovery.
  • Bottom-up groups with local knowledge can use their networks to gather resources for disaster victims.

About the Authors

Stefanie Haeffele is deputy director and Virgil Henry Storr is vice president of academic and student programs at George Mason University. They are fellows of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

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