p.42 Defining Resilience and its Scope: Basic Definition
We begin by defining static economic resilience as the ability or capacity of a system
to absorb or cushion against damage or loss (see, e.g., Holling, 1973; Perrings, 2001). A more general definition
that incorporates dynamic considerations, including stability, is the ability of a system to recover from a severe
shock. We distinguish two types of resilience:
• Inherent – ability under normal circumstances (e.g.,
the ability to substitute other inputs for those curtailed by an external shock, or the ability of markets to reallocate resources
in response to price signals).
• Adaptive – ability in crisis situations due to ingenuity or extra effort (e.g.,
increasing input substitution possibilities in individual business operations, or strengthening the market by providing information
to match suppliers without customers to customers without suppliers).
p.42 The operational definitions and models produced by this research should be of broad usefulness.
p.43 Note that in the infancy of conceptual and especially empirical analysis of economic resilience, we
believe it is prudent to pin down fundamental considerations first.
p.44 Mitigation is typically oriented toward reducing the probability of failure and also reducing vulnerability
through improved resistance (resistance is defined here as a fixed measure, in contrast to the "bounce-back," or flexible,
nature of resilience).
p.51 The measurement of resilience is important because it enables us to evaluate an important strategy
for reducing economic losses from earthquakes. Failure to incorporate resilience in loss estimation will result in inflated
assessments of business interruption from earthquakes. Failure to include resilience in policy-making will result in missed
opportunities to further reduce losses.
