Disasters and economic recovery

Disasters and Economic Recovery provides perspectives on the economic issues that emerge before, during, and after natural disasters in an international context, by assessing the economic development patterns that emerge before and after disaster. This book will provide a historical overview of emergency management policy and previous responses to disasters in each country, as well as the policy learning that occurred in each case leading up to the disasters under analysis. The book highlights four cases: New Orleans; Christchurch, New Zealand; the Japan earthquake and tsunami; and Hurricane Sandy in the Northeastern United States. The book places important focus on the specific collaborative developments unique to the rebuilding of each place\u27s economy post-disaster. Using time-series data, the book shows the emergence of new industries and job hiring patterns in the immediate aftermath, as well as provides a picture of the economic performance of each country in the years following each event. Looking at the economic development policies pre- and post-disaster, readers will glean important lessons on how to build resilient economies within the disaster framework, highlighting the differences in approaches to rebuilding local economies in places with varying levels of governmental capacity post-disaster to inform policymakers, scholars, and the disaster relief community as they plan their response to future disasters

Sudden versus slow death of cities: New orleans and detroit

This paper constitutes a follow-up to an argument made during the late fall of 2005 that posited that many of the approaches and responses to sudden natural disasters might be effectively applied to areas experiencing more chronic economic decay. Using census, budgetary, and political data, including an analysis of planning and development documents, the paper addresses the following research questions: • What were the economic and social trajectories of Detroit and New Orleans prior to their respective disasters? • How did the responses to the hurricane impact New Orleans? • Despite the attention given to New Orleans, why do current conditions differ little from Detroit? The findings suggest that Detroit and New Orleans were clearly both highly distressed cities, with large minority populations and significant inequality prior to Katrina, although Detroit\u27s situation was arguably more severe. Significant media attention and investment in New Orleans appeared to follow in the wake of the hurricane. However, looking at federal and state investment in context suggests that it was not as high as might have been expected and implementation delays may well have lessened its impact. It is not at all clear that the response in New Orleans changed its economic trajectory much beyond that of Detroit, suggesting that the response to sudden disaster might not have aided the slow death of Detroit

Face mask mandates: Unilateral authority and gubernatorial leadership in US states

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the coordination and cooperation between the federal government and the states failed. American governors were thus tasked with making critical public health policy choices—under extreme uncertainty—with varying institutional capacities, partisan pressures, and state demographic differences. Yet most of the nation\u27s governors chose to impose a face covering or mask mandate to limit the spread of cases. We collected each governor\u27s executive order that mandated the conditions under which their residents would be required to wear a mask and employed a sentiment analysis program to extract key qualities of crisis leadership communication. Our analyses provide insights into the institutional and partisan factors that determined a face mask mandate as well as the institutional, demographic, and leadership communication qualities that affected the total number of cases per capita in the states. Our findings have important implications for post-pandemic policy recommendations with respect to the effectiveness of policies that seek to lower the transmission of viruses in public spaces and the characteristics of impactful public health messaging by government leaders

Civic Culture in Ottawa: The Endurance of Local Culture

This chapter focuses on the two cities with individualistic cultures, Dallas and Miami. While Dallas and Miami fit this general model, the case studies here also uncover greater complexity in such systems and highlight how they are formed and change over time. There are a number of similarities between the basic structural and demographic traits of Dallas and Miami. While both initially had at-large electoral systems, they shifted to district-based elections under court order to increase opportunities for minority representation. Both of the cities have historically had elite-dominated power systems. Traditionally in Dallas the greatest value has been placed on facilitating business needs, creating a business-friendly environment, and then letting the market work with little public sector intervention. Decision-makers in Miami appear more open and indeed, embracing of the outside world, particularly as it relates to the increasingly global economy. Economic development policy in Miami and Dallas appears to fit well within the individualistic taxonomy

Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) funding allocations and relevance for US disaster policy

The Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) program has long been a cornerstone of state and local emergency management preparedness efforts. Through the EMPG program, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administers grants to state and local emergency management agencies to accomplish a wide range of tasks such as the development of response and recovery plans, the creation of emergency operation centers, and the hiring of staff, among other activities required to be effective. EMPG provides the predominant federal funding for this mission, and many agencies depend on these funds for their operations. Despite the importance of EMPG, there is a dearth of empirical research about the program. This study explores this gap by evaluating how EMPG funds were distributed across United States counties from 2014 to 2020. Using FEMA and US Census data, we conducted a county-level analysis using robust regression statistical analysis to determine factors affecting funding awards. Findings indicate that high population, high diversity, a strong economy, and high risk (measured using both the National Risk Index score and the number of federal disaster declarations per county) increased the likelihood that a county would receive EMPG funds, with high-risk urban counties rather than rural counties receiving more funding