Role of industrial diversification and hurricane shock on regional economic resilience and post-disaster recovery

Role of industrial diversification and hurricane shock on regional economic resilience and post-disaster recovery | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Role of industrial diversification and hurricane shock on regional economic resilience and post-disaster recovery Hulya Julie Yazici, John Shannon This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8913473/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study investigates how industrial diversification and geographic context influence the economic resilience of Florida counties to hurricane-induced shocks. Leveraging county-level panel data from 1990 to 2017, we use a fixed effects regression model to examine the effects of hurricane shock on unemployment rates and income per capita. Key findings reveal that while hurricanes significantly disrupt local economies, counties with more diversified industrial bases experience faster recoveries in both labor market and income performance. Coastal counties, despite being more frequently exposed to major hurricanes, tend to recover more quickly than their inland counterparts-largely due to more diversified, resourceful economic structures. Conversely, inland counties, typically reliant on agriculture, low paying concentrated economies, exhibit prolonged unemployment and income volatility. Interaction effects between hurricane shock and diversification confirm that diversity acts as a structural buffer, mitigating negative economic outcomes. The findings complemented by a case study of the two coastal counties that experienced a major hurricane have strong policy implications: disaster-prone regions with concentrated economies should prioritize diversification initiatives, workforce retraining, and investment in resilient sectors. The study contributes to disaster economics and regional planning literature by integrating structural, temporal, and geographic variables into a resilience framework. Economic resilience industrial diversification major hurricanes disaster recovery county unemployment rate county income per capita coastal and inland counties Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 17 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 26 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 26 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 18 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8913473","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":607694488,"identity":"8aa30613-b110-412d-84a3-a52ad59b749e","order_by":0,"name":"Hulya Julie Yazici","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAwUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAxCRwCAhx94A5jMTr8WY5wBJWoAgsYdoLeYSyY8/PKixSO/hX/xMgqHCOrGBkBbLGWkGBgnHJHJ7JJ6ZSTCcSSesxeBGgkFCYoNE7n6JM2wSjG2HidGS/uEAUEs6D1jLP6K05Bg2ALUk8PD3ALU0EKPlzJtiBqBfDHsk2IwtEo6lGxPWcjx988cfNXXyPPyHH974UGMtS1ALg0AClCGRAIpTYgD/AXTGKBgFo2AUjAI0AADdDT4u7yBazwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Florida Gulf Coast University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hulya","middleName":"Julie","lastName":"Yazici","suffix":""},{"id":607694492,"identity":"253e780b-33ce-483a-ba42-b9cd4eb71d94","order_by":1,"name":"John Shannon","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Florida Gulf Coast University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"John","middleName":"","lastName":"Shannon","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-19 03:23:04","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8913473/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8913473/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105035918,"identity":"ea9fa3f5-3ee0-4cc5-915c-1adb6444dfca","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-20 07:26:57","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1597643,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Economicresiliencedisaster0206.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8913473/v1_covered_daaa61cb-cc61-443a-924d-7211f7eec682.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Role of industrial diversification and hurricane shock on regional economic resilience and post-disaster recovery","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"the-annals-of-regional-science","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"arsc","sideBox":"Learn more about [The Annals of Regional Science](https://link.springer.com/journal/168)","snPcode":"168","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/168/3","title":"The Annals of Regional Science","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Economic resilience, industrial diversification, major hurricanes, disaster recovery, county unemployment rate, county income per capita, coastal and inland counties","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8913473/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8913473/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis study investigates how industrial diversification and geographic context influence the economic resilience of Florida counties to hurricane-induced shocks. 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