An economic framework for the development of a resilience index for business recovery

Several attempts have recently been made to identify the key indicators of community resilience and to group them into an overall resilience index. These studies support the evaluation of the effectiveness of resilience during recovery, and they also help establish a yardstick by which to monitor progress in resilience enhancement over time. We examine existing resilience indices in relation to economic principles and evaluate their potential to gauge and improve post-disaster economic recovery, with a focus on businesses. We conclude that the majority of indicators in use to date are not necessarily pertinent to measuring resilience at the micro-, meso- and macro-economic levels in the aftermath of a disaster. Contending that business behavior is the key to short-term recovery, we propose a framework for choosing appropriate short-run indicators toward the goal of developing an effective economic resilience index.