Do disasters help the economy? One of my colleagues asked me recently what economic impact analysis has to say about this question. He provided a link to a Forbes article countering the frequent claim that disasters can be/are good for the economy; in turn, Forbes linked to this example from the New York Times. I’ve heard the claim before, of course. In fact, you often hear people say that rural areas and farmers/ranchers are not impacted by drought, fire, or other disasters because of government disaster relief payments…. Read More →