Economics of Disasters and Climate Change

This book discusses the theory, method, and practice of risk economics and also examines climate change and disaster's theoretical and practical implications on capital formation and accumulation in the contemporary economic system. It explores the theoretical and practical challenges of engaging with climate and disaster risk in the changing context of capital investments and market expansion. It explains the emergence of an at-risk society and its interface with economic decision-making. The critical issue the book explores is the implication of certainty over the return period of risk and its influence on the economic behaviour of the state and market institutions. Risk sharing and governing economic risks in the context of financial capitalism is a major theoretical issue the book engages with. It offers a new conceptual framework to see how risk economics evolves out of increasing climate and disaster risks and a counter-discourse on the mainstream economic theoretical standpoint on capital and explains the economics of capital replacement in vulnerable social systems. These broader perspectives will be valuable to economists, researchers, experts in disaster and climate risk, corporate professionals, economics educators, specialists in financial economics, and those involved in development policy-making. This book offers a detailed discussion of risk mitigation and its interface with sustainable development goals including climate action. S. Mohammed Irshad is currently an assistant professor at the Jamsetji Tata School of Disaster Studies, Tata Institute of Social Science. He got his Ph.D in Economics from the University of Kerala. He has published many articles in reputed journals and authored many chapters. His academic research focuses on disaster economics, risk economics, development planning, the political economy of development, water governance, and history of disasters.