COVID-19 effects on local government finance, emergency preparedness, recession topic of MSU research

by Sam Kealhofer, Intern on the A&S Research Support Team

Examining the plight of the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the role of local public administrators to serve this vulnerable population, is the topic of a new article by Julius A. Nukpezah, an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Political Science and Public Administration. His recent coauthored piece, “How Local Governments are Caring for the Homeless During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” was published by “The American Review of Public Administration.”

Using Dallas, Texas, as a case study to demonstrate the various steps local administrators have taken to address homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as provision of additional housing as well as increasing rental and mortgage assistance, Nukpezah’s research indicates that local public administrators, when assisted by federal and state agencies, are best equipped to help the homeless with the challenges they face.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nukpezah has studied the benefits of applying the institutional collective action framework to improve coordination effectiveness among local governments during the time of public health emergencies. Nukpezah says events like the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be fixed by a single government, but rather, must be met by a coordinated effort from all interconnected governments and agencies in order to be fixed.

In an upcoming edition of “International Journal of Emergency Management,” Nukpezah’s article, “Social Vulnerability Determinants of Individual Social Capital for Emergency Preparedness,” uses the social vulnerability theory to stress the importance of an individual’s social capital in times of emergency preparedness and suggests that policy changes could help nourish individual social capital and communication among groups.

Another 2020 article, “Adoption of Multilingual State Emergency Management Websites: Responsiveness to the Risk Communication Needs of a Multilingual Society,” published in “International Journal of Public Administration,” explains that states create multilingual content on their websites in order to better respond to the needs of their population who may not speak English and to reduce state and immigrant vulnerability to disasters through better risk communications. The results of the study also prove that states with a stronger economy are more likely to have multilingual content on their websites.

Nukpezah’s 2018 article, “Institutional Isomorphism and Cash Management Practices in Mississippi,” published in “Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management” explores the unintended consequences Mississippi’s centralized cash management policy has had on cash management practices in both rural and urban counties and provides insight into policy decisions to develop small local  governments without disadvantaging larger ones.

Nukpezah offers more than a decade of experience studying state and local government finance, local government investments, sales tax revenue, poverty alleviation policies, rural economic development, microfinance and microenterprise, and his other research have appeared in  “Public Organization Review,” “Journal of African Business,” “Africa Journal of Management,” “International Journal of Public Administration,” among others.

Nukpezah’s work finds validation during challenging times such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the upcoming economic recession because of the wealth of knowledge it offers on issues like economic development, public administration and emergency response. 

In an effort to contribute insight and solutions to the various challenges facing the nation, the College of Arts & Sciences will continue to highlight faculty research in our “Research in the Headlines” series each Monday and Wednesday. For more research in the headlines, visit https://www.cas.msstate.edu/research/researchintheheadlines/; and for information about the College of Arts & Sciences or the Department of Political Science and Public Administration visit https://www.cas.msstate.edu/ or https://www.pspa.msstate.edu/.