Stefanie Haeffele-Balch

Associate Director of Graduate Student Programs

Stefanie Haeffele-Balch is an alumna of the Mercatus MA Fellowship at George Mason University. After receiving an MA in economics at GMU, she completed a Presidential Management Fellowship where she worked in emergency and disaster operations at FEMA and then the USDA Forest Service. Ms. Haeffele-Balch earned a BA in economics and in finance from the University of North Alabama. Research interests include entrepreneurship, public sector reform, and post-disaster community recovery.

Published Research

Post-Disaster Community Recovery in Heterogeneous, Loosely-Connected Communities

Virgil Storr, Stefanie Haeffele-Balch | Sep 01, 2012

Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on 29 August 2005, leaving a great deal of destruction, pain, and uncertainty in its wake. Post-disaster community rebound is a collective action problem where every individual’s decision to rebuild is impacted by the likelihood that others in the community will rebuild.

Working Papers

Can Decentralized Bottom-Up Post-Disaster Recovery Be Effective?

Virgil Storr, Stefanie Haeffele-Balch | Apr 05, 2010

Using data from interviews with affected residents and community leaders in New Orleans after Katrina, this article explores the effectiveness of private disaster recovery efforts and whether or not…

The Factors and Motivations of Fiscal Stability

Maurice P. McTigue, Christina Forsberg, Stefanie Haeffele-Balch | Jan 20, 2010

There has been a rising academic debate on the sustainability of deficit spending and accumulated debt in governments across the globe. This correlates with a growing concern that excessive…

Mercatus Center

Stefanie Haeffele-Balch