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Natural Hazards, UnNatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective Prevention
economic actors to others through greater interdependence, higher productivity, and stronger institutions. Living in cities facing serious risks of inundation is undesirable, but a failure to significantly reduce poverty would be even more undesirable. Fortunately, neither is inherently necessary. People acting individually and through responsive governments can prosper and survive. Progress requires and results in better institutions: those, after all, are the basis of sustainable development.