Economic Trend Analysis

Economic Loss from Natural Disasters

Introduction:
In the article, “Normalizing Economic Loss from Natural Disasters: A Global Analysis,” the authors explored the economic trends of monetary losses from natural disasters occurring from 1980-2009.

Summary:
Looking at a specific time frame, the authors were able to look at the economic toll from natural disasters during this period. Looking at various methodology for normalizing economic loss, the authors realized that problems could arise due to differences in wealth at any given time.

The goal of this study was to look at climate change as a likely cause of increased intensity of natural disasters, and to look at economic trends and losses in these areas, and to detect if human-induced climate chance will gain momentum over time.

The authors introduced an alternative methodology that would allow then to look at the trends of wealth to combat this problem, therefore giving them a combined methodology.


Conclusion:
Using this form of economic analysis, the authors were able to find that an alternative method for normalizing natural disasters was developed. No increasing trends were found in relation to global, regional, or specific disasters in their 1980-2009 study. They also found that it was too early to detect if human-induced climate change would increase economic loss over time.


Source:
Neumayer, E., & Barthel, F. (2011). Normalizing economic loss from natural disasters: A global analysis. Global Environmental Change, 21(1), 13–24. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.10.004