image: Komla Dzigbede, chair and associate professor of CCPA Public Administration and Policy at the College of Community and Public Affairs at Binghamton Univerity, State University of New York
Credit: Binghamton Univerity, State University of New York
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- It’s no secret that global climate disasters are worsening every year — the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires are estimated to have caused $30 billion in damages alone. While some researchers and practitioners focus on immediate action, others are looking to the future.
“Resiliency speaks to the very survival of jurisdictions,” said Komla Dzigbede, associate professor and chair of the Department of Public Administration and Policy at Binghamton University. “The very survival of the residents, the local infrastructure, the local government and its assets are on the line. If there are things they can do to better prepare, respond and recover from natural disasters, then they should put in all the effort that’s needed into these resiliency practices.”
Resiliency — which he describes as the ability of a government to learn, adapt and innovate in the face of major crisis, while maintaining public services in a sustainable manner — is at the core of Dzigbede’s research.
Dzigbede’s new book, “Natural Disasters and Local Resiliency,” was released in February 2025. Co-written by Sarah Beth Gehl and Katherine G. Willoughby, it revolves around the increase in number, strength and frequency of natural disasters globally; the authors interview local government managers — many who may be the next to experience a disaster — to examine the lessons that they can use as they attempt to prevent, prepare, respond and recover from these events. The book’s major goal is to serve as a resource for practitioners at the local level leading government services and programs.
“While the federal government might provide support, and state government might provide the laws, regulations and support systems, local governments are at the forefront of natural disaster management. They are closest to the residents and face a lot of the initial challenge of dealing with all the ills that come with natural disasters,” he said. “We went beyond the statistical data on natural disasters to interview local governments who have experienced different forms of disasters over the years. We tapped into their experiences to draw lessons that will help other local governments and ensure economic recovery following a disaster. The insights that local leaders shared were very powerful.”
An expert in state and local public finance and international economic policy, Dzigbede’s research spans a variety of topics, including debt issuance, debt refinancing, budget system effectiveness, tax reform, financial market regulation and sustainable economic development.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from the University of Ghana and a doctorate in public policy from the Georgia State University. He is the editor-in-chief of the Public Finance & Management journal. He began at Binghamton University in 2016 as an assistant professor and filled his current role in 2022. He is also the recipient of the IBM Center for the Business of Government Research Grant (2020).
“I found my way into this type of research, and was inspired by the way I grew up, in a developing country. I saw first-hand the big gap that exists between those who have and those who do not,” Dzigbede said. “I was also particularly intrigued about how to manage economic and financial resources, so there will be equity in their distribution and use, so people can have the basics and thrive in sustainable communities. And so those motivations generally inform my research.”
Although the book focuses on U.S. local governments, the material is relevant to local leaders everywhere. For example, the book addresses the 2006 and 2011 flooding in Binghamton. It also describes economic recovery scenarios that can be useful for understanding the potential economic recovery pathways for the municipalities that experienced the deadly L.A. wildfires.
“We analyzed natural disaster preparedness and the immediate response, and the path for economic development post-disaster. We went back to the data on local revenues and expenditure, and we tried to track specific types of expenses pre-, during and post-disaster to see how expenditure patterns changed, if any. Are there more construction activities going on post-disaster? Are the expenditures related to long term economic development, or is the municipality simply spending on routine day-to-day operations and merely trying to survive? Importantly, we also trace back to the minutes of the city council, to capture the decision-making patterns of the council members, especially during and immediately following a major disaster in the municipality.”
From an economic recovery context, if things were to have gone normally, there will be a “normal” trend for economic development locally. When a natural disaster takes place, that throws a wrench into the natural path for development. Afterward, a few options may occur — there may be no recovery; a divot of loss with a recovery back to the trend; the jurisdiction may “build back better,” meaning that they’ve been able to learn from the experience and adjust their infrastructure systems or their disaster preparedness.
Finally, there’s a path that’s called “creative destruction.” This is such a positive outcome that it surpasses the build back better option. According to Dzigbede, this positive outcome can be the case for the jurisdictions affected by the L.A. wildfires — integrating lessons from the bad experience they’ve had and building that into their systems and mechanisms.
“Of course, for many jurisdictions, there will be a slowdown period. It will take them some time to recover, gain momentum, and then build,” he said. “If we were to gauge time on an annual basis, or a medium-term basis of three to five years, economic dips will be temporary for many jurisdictions. That’s the idea behind creative destruction — that the support systems are so immediate that the jurisdiction is able to recover quickly.”
Dzigbede is hopeful that his research will fulfill a need that is becoming more and more relevant every day, and that local leaders across the world will gain valuable insight from the experiences of local managers who are at the frontlines of natural disaster management.
“We’ve gone to the people at the front lines of disaster management to seek their views on what strategies might be most effective, and these people have provided a framework that we feel should be disseminated near and far to help people in other places prepare for the next disaster,” he said. “There’s much value here, because it goes beyond the theoretical, into the practical. It pops into the mindsets and thinking of people at the front lines and how they foresee effective management; hopefully, local governments everywhere will benefit from documented experience."