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Local Government Policy Agendas, Budgets, and the Impact of Focusing Events

Butler, Lathania W
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1503103689112142

Abstract Details

2017, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Public Policy and Management.
Natural disasters pose heavy threats to peoples’ lives, the functioning of communities, and the stability of local economies. The frequency and severity of these disasters continue to intensify as individuals move toward coastal regions and as communities engage in development practices that increase vulnerability. Since the passage of the Disaster Relief Act of 1950, the federal government has played a major role in subsidizing the process of recovering from these disasters and has inadvertently subsidized increases in vulnerability. However, as the economic and social costs of that subsidy have continued to rise, federal agencies are looking for more local level responsibility and engagement in mitigation strategies. The efforts to increase local government engagement in resilience building and mitigation have been less than effective. The first chapter explores the nature of local government policy agendas to ask the overarching question: Are the concepts central to the building of resilience – advanced planning, long-run investment and accommodation of redundancy – contrary to the constraints and concerns of local governments? I explore of this question through the presentation of local government finance and agenda setting theories and discussion of the results of a survey of local leaders in coastal Ohio. I posit that local leaders are in constant states of competition with their neighboring localities for economic activity and are constrained in time and attention. Therefore, they are drawn to issues and strategies that are simple and near-term. Long-term planning for events with uncertain probabilities remain at the bottom of local government agendas. The second chapter continues to focus on local government policy agendas by examining the extent to which major natural disasters have functioned as focusing events that open policy windows – brief opportunities for the passing of iniatives or changes in policy (Kingdon, 1995). Multiple group path analysis (MGA) is used to investigate the extent to which policy windows open for increases in spending on public welfare and natural resources post-disaster. In the case of natural resource expenditures, MGA detects no statistically significant difference in spending patterns between counties that experienced major natural disaster and those that did not. The experience of a major disaster does not alter the relationship politics has with expenditure on natural resources. Multiple group analysis on the public welfare causal path shows that there was no difference in year over year funding change between disaster and non-disaster counties. The difference was found in the relationship that exogenous variables, particularly state government ideology, had with public welfare expenditure. The final empirical chapter returns to the idea that local governments need to know how disasters affect near term realities in order to put these disasters on their agendas. I examine the impact natural disasters have on local government revenue and expenditure and find metropolitan counties experience significant decline in revenue from own sources and non-metropolitan counties experience significant declines in intergovernmental revenue when there is an increase in total natural hazard damage. However, if the disaster is a major one, the federal government significantly increases funding and there is a net gain.
Robert Greenbaum (Advisor)
Stephanie Moulton (Committee Member)
Jozef Raadschelders (Committee Member)
147 p.
Public Administration
Local finance, natural disaster, agenda setting, policy process, policy agenda

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Butler, L. W. (2017). Local Government Policy Agendas, Budgets, and the Impact of Focusing Events [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1503103689112142

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Butler, Lathania. Local Government Policy Agendas, Budgets, and the Impact of Focusing Events. 2017. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1503103689112142.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Butler, Lathania. "Local Government Policy Agendas, Budgets, and the Impact of Focusing Events." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1503103689112142

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1503103689112142
894
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.