The Economics of Hurricanes
By: Lance Winslow
During the 2006 Atlantic tropical hurricane season the world will watch all of the awesome power of Mother Nature. We will watch the weather satellites and the weather Channel and listen to meteorologist experts and weather research scientists who will explain each and every move that the hurricane takes.
Many will be forced through mandatory evacuation to leave their homes for safer regions. We understand the devastation and destruction that major category hurricanes can cause our civilization and the damaged it does both mentally and physically to our people. But what we do not often think about is the economic repercussions of major category hurricanes.
We feel and see some of the economic situations that hurricanes cause for instance the higher fuel prices due to the commodity traders who are concerned with supply and demand issues. We see this when we go to the gas stations and fill up our automobiles. But the economics of hurricanes goes much deeper.
Often entire cities and towns are devastated to the point of economic disaster and may never recover. Even with the loans from the small business administration and FEMA it may be too late. Even if citizens and businesses take out those loans there is no guarantee that the customers will come back and patronize their businesses or that the area will ever fully recover from the economic devastation. The economics of hurricanes is much more serious and long-term than the original events. Consider all this in 2006.
Lance Winslow