The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of natural disasters on emergency and disaster relief service (EDRS) expenditure in the governmental funds for sixty-six counties in the state of Florida between 2009 and 2013. Specifically, it will explore whether the fiscal responses of local governments in these fiscal accounts are spatially dependent by using the spatial Durbin model. It finds that EDRS expenditures in the general fund and in the special revenue fund of one county are influenced by the levels of damage in neighboring counties. This study also finds a spillover effect of intergovernmental revenues from state and federal governments on these EDRS expenditures in fiscal accounts. These results suggest that the provision of public goods (such as disaster relief activities) may generate spatial spillover at the local level in the context of US federalism. Moreover, this study highlights the importance of accounting for spatial factors in the study with respect to local jurisdictions’ fiscal reactions to natural disasters.

In the last three decades, China has taken actions to tackle its environmental issues while the tension between policymakers at the central level and decentralized implementation of such policies has been a major concern. This study investigates how policy clarity and high powered incentive system jointly affect organizational performance in the context of environmental governance in China. Utilizing city-level data compiled with text data extracted from Report on the Work of the Government from 2004 to 2015 and Difference in Differences (DID) design, we find that the compliance of local officials to protect the environment as well as the actual environmental protection outcome significantly increased. Our study also finds evidence that newly-appointed Party Secretaries at the city level are the main facilitators of enhancing environmental regulation policies. This research proposes a two by two typology based on the principal-agent theory explaining how successful environmental governance within this period in China is realized and offers practical implications for those who seek to enhance the effectiveness of environmental governance.

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