Examining COVID-19 response among local governments through the political market framework

Vaswati Chatterjee, PhD; Theodore Arapis, PhD

doi:10.5055/jem.0755

Authors

Vaswati Chatterjee, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0115-2025
Theodore Arapis, PhD

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5055/jem.0755

Keywords:

COVID-19, pandemic response, health crisis, political market framework, local government, mayor-council, council-manager, Florida, Pennsylvania

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought to the forefront the importance of a local government’s role during public health emergencies. While cities around the world have led the pandemic response in their communities by extending public health services, providing socioeconomic assistance to constituents and aiding small businesses and jurisdictions in the United States have had varying degrees of success in managing the crisis. As such, this study employs the political market framework to explore the impact of supply-side determinants (form of government, preparedness capabilities, and federal aid) and demand-side determinants (population, socioeconomic factors, and political affiliation) on a local government’s COVID-19 response. Given the lack of attention, the emergency management literature has paid on government form, exploring the impact of council-manager vs mayor-council systems on COVID-19 response has been this study’s primary focus. Using a logistic regression and survey data across Florida and Pennsylvania local governments, this study finds government form significant for COVID-19 response. Following our findings, local governments with a council-manager form were more likely to adopt public health and socioeconomic strategies in response to the pandemic than were those with other forms. Furthermore, having emergency management plans, receiving public assistance from Federal Emergency Management Agency, community characteristics like the percent of teens and non-White residents, and political affiliation also had a significant impact on the likelihood of response strategies being adopted.

Author Biographies

Vaswati Chatterjee, PhD

Assistant Professor of Public Administration, Department of Public Administration, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania

Theodore Arapis, PhD

Associate Professor of Public Administration, Department of Public Administration, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania

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