Alison Boehmer- April 26-Special Weather and Climate Seminar

Special Weather and Climate Seminar Firm Behavior in the Face of Severe Weather: Studying the Effects of Deterministic and Probabilistic Warning Systems Alison Boehmer Friday, April 26th NWC 1350/11:00 am   In the face of increasing severe weather, particularly tornadoes, it is necessary to understand how firms process and react

Start

April 26, 2019 - 11:00 am

End

April 26, 2019 - 12:00 pm

Address

120 David L Boren Blvd, Norman, OK 73072   View map

Special Weather and Climate Seminar

Firm Behavior in the Face of Severe Weather: Studying the Effects of Deterministic and Probabilistic Warning Systems

Alison Boehmer

Friday, April 26th

NWC 1350/11:00 am

 

In the face of increasing severe weather, particularly tornadoes, it is necessary to understand how firms process and react to information related to storms. More specifically, research is needed to predict and understand firms’ behavior in response to varied storm warning systems. This project responds to the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017, H.R. 353, which calls for the use of social and behavioral science to study and improve storm warning systems. This study distributed a digital survey experiment to Dallas-metropolitan firms, resulting in a sample of over 150 observations representing a variety of industries. The goal of this project is two-fold: To offer both descriptive and explanatory results concerning firm behavior in the face of severe weather. The former analyzes how severe weather is approached generally by firms, such as how often emergency preparation is discussed, and how much the firm trusts the information they receive. The latter explores how firms react and behave in response to deterministic and probabilistic warning systems. For instance, this study finds that when the probability of a storm affecting a firm reaches 75%, their behavior reflects that of a deterministic warning. These results are valuable because they can inform more effective storm warning systems, potentially reduce productivity loss, and increase trust in storm-related information.