Hahn on the Economics of Rebuilding Cities: Reflections after Katrina (AEI-Brookings) concludes with this:
Clearly, economics can’t tell us all we need to know in deciding whether to spend billions of dollars in rebuilding a great city. Yet, it is equally apparent that the failure to frame the issues in terms of costs and benefits leaves us flying blind. As Americans grow wealthier and more of them choose to live in places at greater risk, we can be sure that the costs of rebuilding after disasters will inevitably grow. It would be nice to hope that the knowledge of how to rebuild would grow, too.
The idea is that we should compare the benefits to the costs of rebuilding.
Thanks to Will Wheeler for the tip.
