This paper focuses on the regional allocation of public spending for disaster risk reduction (DRR) in Bangladesh.

The objective is to identify all of the directly observable determinants’ of publicly allocated and realized spending at the local government (sub-district) level. The Heckman two stage selection model is used with detailed public finance and other data from 483 sub-districts (upazilas) across the country. It is found that government does not respond to the sub-district’s risk exposure as a factor affecting the DRR financing mechanism. The DRR regional allocations do not seem to be determined by risk and exposure, only weakly by vulnerability, nor even by more transparent political economy motivations.

[Adapted from source]