Catastrophe

President Bush has refereed to Hurricane Katrina as "one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history."  Hyperbola aside, there is no doubt that the consequences have been catastrophic for the city of New Orleans and areas of Missippi and Alabama.  Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution has raised the question of how robust cities are in the wake of devastation.  Bob Surbrick at The Stationary Bandit has raised the issue of how politics impacts on preparation for disasters and recoveries from them.  Clearly the subject of catastrophic events --- fundamental causes, prevention (or failure to prevent), recovery from (or failure to recover) --- is one of utmost importance for social scientists and political economists. Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is one attempt.  Diamond's work, however, focuses on ecological issues and as such reflects a certain innocence on how market forces can answer the most pressing concerns and how government policy is actually the culprit in the worst examples.  In short, while natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina can bring catastrophic consequences, our ability to withstand nature's fury and respond quickly is a function private initiative and not pro-active government policy.  The political economy of catastrophe is a field waiting for serious study and unfortunately for the people of New Orleans, Biloxi and Mobile we have just been given a new "natural experiement" that provides the raw material for just such an examination.