{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DECDI","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2026-02-10","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Yasuhiro Kawasoe","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"ykawasoe@worldbank.org"}],"title_statement":{"title":"Reproducibility Package for Why Do Some Countries Build Safer? Economic Constraints, Disaster Learning, And The Two-Stage Housing Quality Ladder","idno":"RR_WLD_2026_550"},"data_statement":"All data sources are publicly available but not all are included in the reproducibility package.","software":[{"name":"Python","version":"3.12.12"}],"scripts":[{"title":"Reproducibility package for Why Do Some Countries Build Safer? Economic Constraints, Disaster Learning, And The Two-Stage Housing Quality Ladder","date":"2026-02","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.","instructions":"See README in reproducibility package.","file_name":"RR_WLD_2026_550","zip_package":"RR_WLD_2026_550.zip","dependencies":"Python dependencies are listed in the \"environment.yml\" file."}],"repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"production_date":"2026-02-10","abstract":"Why do some countries have more disaster-resilient housing than others, even at similar income levels? This paper addresses this question using a novel dataset on housing robustness for 150 countries and proposes a \"two-stage housing quality ladder\" framework. The analysis reveals that the constraints on housing improvement fundamentally differ across development stages. In the first stage\u2014eliminating fragile housing\u2014household poverty is the binding constraint, showing strong negative associations with housing quality and non-linear effects that diminish at extreme poverty levels. Progress depends primarily on poverty alleviation and basic governance capacity. In the second stage\u2014achieving robust, engineered construction\u2014household poverty becomes statistically insignificant. Instead, national income, construction-sector institutions (building codes, permit systems, inspections), and overall institutional quality emerge as the critical determinants. The paper further demonstrates that countries learn from disaster experience, but this learning is hazard-specific and mediated by governance quality. Earthquake experience consistently drives improvements in housing resilience, particularly in well-governed countries, while storm and flood experiences show weaker direct effects but significant interactions with poverty levels. These findings carry important policy implications: disaster risk reduction investments should emphasize poverty alleviation and basic governance in low-income countries eliminating fragile housing, while middle- and high-income countries should prioritize construction-sector regulatory capacity and code enforcement systems to achieve robust engineering standards. Earthquake-prone countries benefit particularly from institutional strengthening that enables sustained learning from repeated seismic events.","geographic_units":[{"name":"World","code":"WLD"}],"keywords":[{"name":"Housing Resilience"},{"name":"Disaster Risk Management"},{"name":"Building Codes"},{"name":"Poverty"},{"name":"Economic Development"},{"name":"Institutional Quality"},{"name":"Disaster Learning"}],"topics":[{"id":"O18","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis \u2022 Housing \u2022 Infrastructure","parent_id":"O1"},{"id":" Q54","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Climate \u2022 Natural Disasters and Their Management \u2022 Global Warming","parent_id":"Q5"},{"id":" R31","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Housing Supply and Markets","parent_id":"R3"},{"id":" I32","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Measurement and Analysis of Poverty","parent_id":"I3"},{"id":" H84","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Disaster Aid","parent_id":"H8"}],"output":[{"type":"Working Paper","description":"Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)","title":"Why Do Some Countries Build Safer? Economic Constraints, Disaster Learning, And The Two-Stage Housing Quality Ladder"}],"language":[{"name":"English","code":"EN"}],"disclaimer":"The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development\/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.","license":[{"name":"Modified BSD3","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/bsd-3-clause\/"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Yasuhiro Kawasoe","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"ykawasoe@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}],"datasets":[{"name":"World Development Indicators","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license":"CC-BY 4.0 with additional terms specified in the license URL","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/about\/legal\/terms-of-use-for-datasets","uri":"https:\/\/databank.worldbank.org\/source\/world-development-indicators","citation":"World Bank.\n2025.\n\"World Development Indicators\" [dataset].\nIndicators accessed: GDP, PPP (constant 2021 international $); GDP per capita, PPP (constant 2021 international $); total population; percentage or urban population; Survey mean consumption or income per capita, total population (2021 PPP $ per day); Poverty headcount ratio at $8.30 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population); Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (% of population); Poverty headcount ratio at $4.20 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population); Poverty headcount ratio at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population); Gini index; Population living in slums (% of urban population); Poverty gap at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (%); Poverty gap at $4.20 a day (2021 PPP) (%); Poverty gap at $8.30 a day (2021 PPP) (%); Land area (sq. km); Average precipitation in depth (mm per year).\nAccessed using the Python package wbgapi.\nhttps:\/\/databank.worldbank.org\/source\/world-development-indicators.\nAccessed July 2025.","note":"Source: World Bank.\nData was accessed via the Python package \"wbgapi\".\nIndicators accessed: GDP, PPP (constant 2021 international $); GDP per capita, PPP (constant 2021 international $); total population; percentage or urban population; Survey mean consumption or income per capita, total population (2021 PPP $ per day); Poverty headcount ratio at $8.30 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population); Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (% of population); Poverty headcount ratio at $4.20 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population); Poverty headcount ratio at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population); Gini index; Population living in slums (% of urban population); Poverty gap at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (%); Poverty gap at $4.20 a day (2021 PPP) (%); Poverty gap at $8.30 a day (2021 PPP) (%); Land area (sq. km); Average precipitation in depth (mm per year).\nFiles location: data is accessed directly through the code. A copy of the data used for the paper results is saved in \"data_processed\/raw_wb_api_backup.csv\".\nData was accessed in January 2026."},{"name":"Worldwide Governance Indicators","note":"Source: World Bank.\nData file: \"data_raw\/WB\/wgidataset.xlsx\".\nData was accessed on October 31, 2025.","uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/publication\/worldwide-governance-indicators","citation":"World Bank.\n2025.\n\"Worldwide Governance Indicators\" [dataset].\n2025 revision.\nhttps:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/publication\/worldwide-governance-indicators.\nAccessed October 31, 2025.","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license":"CC-BY 4.0 with additional terms specified in the license URL","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/about\/legal\/terms-of-use-for-datasets"},{"name":"Doing Business Data - Dealing with Construction Permits","note":"Source: World Bank.\nData file: \"data_raw\/WB\/Dealing with Construction Permits.xlsx\".\nData was accessed on November 5, 2025.","uri":"https:\/\/archive.doingbusiness.org\/en\/data\/exploretopics\/dealing-with-construction-permits","license":"CC-BY 4.0 with additional terms specified in the license URL","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/about\/legal\/terms-of-use-for-datasets","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","citation":"World Bank.\nn.d.\n\"Doing Business Data - Dealing with Construction Permits\" [dataset].\nhttps:\/\/archive.doingbusiness.org\/en\/data\/exploretopics\/dealing-with-construction-permits.\nAccessed November 5, 2025."},{"name":"World Bank Country and Lending Groups","note":"Source: World Bank.\nData file: \"data_raw\/WB\/CLASS.xlsx\".\nData was accessed on October 23, 2025.","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/about\/legal\/terms-of-use-for-datasets","license":"CC-BY 4.0 with additional terms specified in the license URL","uri":"https:\/\/databankfiles.worldbank.org\/public\/ddpext_download\/site-content\/CLASS.xlsx","citation":"World Bank.\n2025.\n\"World Bank Country and Lending Groups\" [dataset].\nhttps:\/\/databankfiles.worldbank.org\/public\/ddpext_download\/site-content\/CLASS.xlsx.\nAccessed October 23, 2025."},{"name":"Supplementary materials for Global Model for Socio-economic Resilience to Natural Disasters","note":"Source: Middelanis, R., Jafino, B. A., Hill, R., Nguyen, M. C., Hallegatte, S.\nThe dataset is part of the supplementary materials for \"Global Socio-economic Resilience to Natural Disasters\", from Middelanis et al. (2025).\nData files: \"data_raw\/GEM\/building_class_to_vulenrability_mapping.csv\", \"data_raw\/GEM\/country_vulnerability_classes.csv\", \"data_raw\/GEM\/gem_taxonomy_fields.json\", \"data_raw\/GEM\/gem-to-vulnerability_mapping_per_hazard.xlsx\", \"data_raw\/GEM\/hazus-gem_mapping.csv\".","uri":"https:\/\/github.com\/rmiddelanis\/global-unbreakable-model\/tree\/main\/data\/raw\/GEM_vulnerability","license":"MIT","license_uri":"https:\/\/github.com\/rmiddelanis\/global-unbreakable-model\/tree\/main?tab=MIT-1-ov-file#readme","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","citation":"Middelanis, R., Jafino, B. A., Hill, R., Nguyen, M. C., Hallegatte, S.\n2025.\n\"Supplementary materials for Global Model for Socio-economic Resilience to Natural Disasters\" [dataset].\nhttps:\/\/github.com\/rmiddelanis\/global-unbreakable-model\/tree\/main\/data\/raw\/GEM_vulnerability.\nAccessed October 23, 2025."},{"name":"Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2025","note":"Source: Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative, United Nations Development Programme.\nData was downloaded from the data URL, link \"Table 1 National Results MPI 2025\". Some rows and columns with titles and notes were manually deleted and the result was saved into \"MPI_national.xlsx\".\nData file: \"data_raw\/MPI\/MPI_national.xlsx\".\nData was accessed on October 29, 2025.","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license":"CC-BY 4.0","license_uri":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/deed.en","uri":"https:\/\/ophi.org.uk\/global-mpi\/2025","citation":"Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative, United Nations Development Programme.\n2025.\n\"Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2025\" [dataset].\nhttps:\/\/ophi.org.uk\/global-mpi\/2025.\nAccessed October 29, 2025."},{"name":"EM-DAT hazard data","uri":"https:\/\/public.emdat.be\/","note":"Source: Universit\u00e9 catholique de Louvain - Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED).\nData was accessed via a custom query by selecting the years 1900-2023, and the events with classification \"Wildfire\", \"Earthquake\", \"Volcanic activity\", \"Flood\", and \"Storm\" for all countries. \nData file: \"data_raw\/EM-DAT\/public_emdat_custom_request_2025-11-07_f6f2cabe-ff99-4bc3-ba01-ab018fae62ec.xlsx\"\nData was accessed on November 07, 2025. It is possible that the dataset has been updated after it was accessed and a new query could not return the same results.","license_uri":"https:\/\/doc.emdat.be\/docs\/legal\/terms-of-use\/","access_type":"Data is publicly available but does not allow redistribution and it is not included in the reproducibility package.","citation":"Universit\u00e9 Catholique de Louvain - Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED).\n2025.\n\"Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT)\" [dataset].\nhttps:\/\/public.emdat.be\/.\nAccessed November 07, 2025."}],"technology_requirements":"Runtime: 20 minutes.","technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2022 OS: Windows 11 Enterprise, version 25H2\n\u2022 Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 7 165U (2.10 GHz)\n\u2022 Memory available: 31.5 GB","reproduction_instructions":"**1. Access the data:** one dataset required to run the reproducibility package is accessible but not included in the reproducibility package. Users need to gain access to the data before being able to run the entire code. See the section Datasets for more information.\n**2. Reproduce the programming environment or install all dependencies**: Replicate and activate the conda environment in the file \"environment.yml\" included in the reproducibility package, or manually install the dependencies listed at the beginning of each notebook.\n**3. Run the code:** Run the six notebooks in the \"notebooks\" folder following the semantic order of the file names."},"tags":[{"tag":"Accessible Data"},{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Open Code"}],"schematype":"script"}