Abstract Among disaster victims, the decision to apply for assistance with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is not straight forward. It is typically affected a variety of factors beyond individual demographic characteristics. Using Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, this study utilizes bounded rationality as a theoretical framework for exploring what may affect the decision to apply for individual assistance with FEMA. A representative sample of generally affected individuals and a subsample of individuals with home damage are used to investigate various factors thought to be important in decision-making and compare differences between the groups. As a byproduct of the analysis, it is observed that although the loss of employment and being able to rely on one’s immediate network is a significant predictor of applying for aid among individuals with home damage, these variables are not significant among those that were generally affected. Recommendations for future research are provided to enhance our understanding of decision-making in the aftermath of disasters.

中文翻译：

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决定申请联邦灾难援助：使用有限理性框架的灾难决策初步调查

摘要在灾难受害者中，向联邦紧急事务管理局（FEMA）申请援助的决定并不直接。它通常会受到个人人口统计特征以外的多种因素的影响。在哈维飓风过后使用德克萨斯州，本研究利用有限理性作为理论框架，探讨了可能影响申请FEMA个人援助决定的因素。通常受影响的个人的代表性样本和遭受房屋损坏的个人子样本用于调查被认为在决策中很重要的各种因素，并比较两组之间的差异。作为分析的副产品，据观察，尽管失业和能够依靠自己的直接网络是在遭受房屋损坏的个人中申请援助的重要预测指标，但这些变量在通常受影响的人群中并不重要。提供了有关未来研究的建议，以增强我们对灾难后决策的理解。