Economic Impact of Natural Disasters
Running head: Hurricane Katrina: The Economic Impact of Natural Disasters
Hurricane Katrina: The Economic Impact of Natural Disasters
Timothy T. Boyd
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Abstract
Major natural disasters can do and have severe negative short-run economic impacts. Disasters also appear to have adverse longer-term consequences for economic growth, development, and poverty reductions. Natural disasters cause significant budgetary pressures, with both narrowly fiscal short-term impacts and wider long-term implications for development. On August 29, 2005, one of the most deadliest hurricanes slammed into the Gulf Coast region of the United States. Hurricane Katrina, once a category 5 storm, dropped slightly in intensity, to a major category 4 storm, before causing her destruction and devastation of the Gulf Coast region. This research paper will identify the economic impact of natural disasters, focusing on Hurricane Katrina.
I certify that this is original work and research for ECON 211 Macroeconomics.
Overview
Hurricane Katrina was the eleventh named tropical storm, fourth hurricane, third major hurricane, and first Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane just north of Miami, Florida on August 25, 2005, then again on August 29 along the Central Gulf Coast near New Orleans, Louisiana, as a Category 4 storm. Its storm surge soon breached the levee system that protected New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain. Most of the city was subsequently flooded by the lake 's waters. This and other major damage to the coastal regions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama made Katrina the "most destructive and costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States." ("Hurricane Season", 2005)
Introduction
Hurricanes and other natural disasters rarely have a large and long-lasting effect on the economy, but Katrina could be an exception. While most
Hurricane Katrina: The Economic Impact of Natural Disasters
Timothy T. Boyd
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Abstract
Major natural disasters can do and have severe negative short-run economic impacts. Disasters also appear to have adverse longer-term consequences for economic growth, development, and poverty reductions. Natural disasters cause significant budgetary pressures, with both narrowly fiscal short-term impacts and wider long-term implications for development. On August 29, 2005, one of the most deadliest hurricanes slammed into the Gulf Coast region of the United States. Hurricane Katrina, once a category 5 storm, dropped slightly in intensity, to a major category 4 storm, before causing her destruction and devastation of the Gulf Coast region. This research paper will identify the economic impact of natural disasters, focusing on Hurricane Katrina.
I certify that this is original work and research for ECON 211 Macroeconomics.
Overview
Hurricane Katrina was the eleventh named tropical storm, fourth hurricane, third major hurricane, and first Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane just north of Miami, Florida on August 25, 2005, then again on August 29 along the Central Gulf Coast near New Orleans, Louisiana, as a Category 4 storm. Its storm surge soon breached the levee system that protected New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain. Most of the city was subsequently flooded by the lake 's waters. This and other major damage to the coastal regions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama made Katrina the "most destructive and costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States." ("Hurricane Season", 2005)
Introduction
Hurricanes and other natural disasters rarely have a large and long-lasting effect on the economy, but Katrina could be an exception. While most
Cited: Arnold, R. A. (2005). Economics. Mason, Ohio,: South-Western/Thomson Henderson, N. (2005) [Online]. Katrina Swells Ranks of Jobless. Available: http://www.washingtonpost.com Hurricane Katrina (2005) [On-line]. Available: http://encarta.msn.com/hurricane_katrina Hurricane Katrina Information (2005) [Online] http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome Hurricane Season (2005) [On-line]. Available: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/hurricanes/index.html Understanding the Economic and Financial Impact of Natural Disasters (2004) [Online]. Available: http://www.eldis.org/static/DOC17210.htm