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Assessing the Financial Impact of Natural Disasters on Local Governments

In recent decades, the increase in the frequency and the severity of natural disasters has posed growing challenges to governments’ disaster response activities. Disasters can have a considerable financial impact on local governments, but this impact has not been systematically analyzed. This study assesses disaster impact using 17 years of panel data (between 1996 and 2012) from the city and county governments in New York state. The research examines many aspects of local governments’ financial conditions, including liquidity, fund balance, and debt. It tests whether governments’ financial conditions are affected by disasters and whether fiscal institutions moderate disasters’ impacts. The results show that a local government's unreserved fund balance and disaster reserve significantly affect its financial condition, while financial condition indicators are not significantly impacted by natural disasters when the fiscal institution variables are controlled.