Start
April 26, 2019 - 11:00 am
End
April 26, 2019 - 12:00 pm
Address
120 David L Boren Blvd, Norman, OK 73072 View mapCategories
Weather and Climate SystemsSpecial 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.