This paper looks at climate adaptation from the perspective of institutional economics, focusing on local administrations and exploring their role as bureaucratic organizations dealing with nature-related systems where climate change is creating new interdependencies. The central aim is to reveal under what circumstances such adaptation takes place in a coordinated fashion, as opposed to adaptation by individual administrative units within their respective competences. Applying the concept of integrative vs. segregative institutions, the paper draws upon evidence from fourteen climate-sensitive municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The analysis, based on set-theoretic methods, finds that integrative institutions constitute a sufficient but not necessary condition for integrative adaptation. State administrations may thus avoid additional climate-related burdens for citizens and conflicts among resource users by providing local administrations with means for additional coordination. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Roggero, M
Adapting institutions: exploring climate adaptation through institutional economics and set relations
Ecological Economics