The Fallacy That May Never Die…

From this Sunday’s Boston Globe “Ideas” section: Natural Disasters Help

“Natural disasters can give a boost to the countries where they occur – and sometimes, the more the better”

“…When something is destroyed you don’t necessarily rebuild the same thing that you had. You might use updated technology, you might do things more efficiently. It bumps you up,” says Mark Skidmore, an economics professor at Michigan State University. “Disasters help people think about things differently.”

As J. Henderson has remarked:, “Using this logic, the federal government should spur greater growth and technological development by regularly and frequently bulldozing random homes and businesses across the country.”

The seminal essay on the subject published in 1850:That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen by Frederic Bastiat.