Joplin in Retrospect: Economic Outcomes and Funding

On May 22nd, 2011, the Joplin area in Missouri was devastated by an EF-5 tornado. After the catastrophic event, affected businesses in the region received aid in the form of federal grants and loans, with the Small Business Administration (SBA) loans being a major source. There have not been a lot of studies conducted on the efficiency of these funds and their impact on the business. This poster takes an analytical look at the survival of businesses that were granted assistance almost a decade following the 2011 tornado. This study uses loan data received from SBA through a FOIA request as well as primary data collected online. The source data includes pertinent information like borrower name, mailing address/city/state/county/ZIP, damaged property address/city/state/county/ZIP, approved loan amount, loan type, and business characteristics such as number of employees and sector. Primary data from business websites, Google Earth, Facebook, LinkedIn and other business networking websites helped track down the statuses of these businesses in 2020. These data were combined in order to compare differences in survival, closure, and relocation based on loan and business characteristics.