Natural and Man-Made Catastrophes : Theories, Economics, and Policy Designs.

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- About the Author -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1 The Economics of Humanity‐Ending Catastrophes, Natural and Man‐made: Introduction -- 1.1 Fables of Catastrophes in Three Worlds -- 1.2 Feared Catastrophic Events -- 1.3 Global or Universal Catastrophes -- 1.4 A Multidisciplinary Review of Catastrophe Studies -- 1.5 Economics of Catastrophic Events -- 1.6 Empirical Studies of Behaviors Under Catastrophes -- 1.7 Designing Policies on Catastrophic Events -- 1.8 Economics of Catastrophes Versus Economics of Sustainability -- 1.9 Road Ahead -- References -- Chapter 2 Mathematical Foundations of Catastrophe and Chaos Theories and Their Applications -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Catastrophe Theory -- 2.2.1 Catastrophe Models and Tipping Points -- 2.2.2 Regulating Mechanisms -- 2.3 Chaos Theory -- 2.3.1 Butterfly Effect -- 2.3.2 The Lorenz Attractor -- 2.4 Fractal Theory -- 2.4.1 Fractals -- 2.4.2 The Mandelbrot Set -- 2.4.3 Fractals, Catastrophe, and Power Law -- 2.5 Finding Order in Chaos -- 2.6 Catastrophe Theory Applications -- 2.7 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 3 Philosophies, Ancient and Contemporary, of Catastrophes, Doomsdays, and Civilizational Collapses -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Environmental Catastrophes: Silent Spring -- 3.3 Ecological Catastrophes: The Ultimate Value Is Wilderness -- 3.4 Climate Doomsday Modelers -- 3.5 Collapsiology: The Archaeology of Civilizational Collapses -- 3.6 Pascal's Wager: A Statistics of Infinity of Value -- 3.7 Randomness in the Indian School of Thoughts -- 3.8 The Road to the Economics of Catastrophes -- References -- Chapter 4 Economics of Catastrophic Events: Theory -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Defining Catastrophic Events: Thresholds -- 4.3 Defining Catastrophic Events: Tail Distributions.

4.4 Insurance and Catastrophic Coverage -- 4.5 Options for a Catastrophic Event -- 4.6 Catastrophe Bonds -- 4.7 Pareto Optimality in Policy Interventions -- 4.8 Events of Variance Infinity or Undefined Moments -- 4.9 Economics of Infinity: A Dismal Science -- 4.10 Alternative Formulations of a Fat‐tail Catastrophe -- 4.11 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 5 Economics of Catastrophic Events: Empirical Data and Analyses of Behavioral Responses -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Modeling the Genesis of a Hurricane -- 5.3 Indices of the Destructive Potential of a Hurricane -- 5.4 Factors of Destruction: Wind Speeds, Central Pressure, and Storm Surge -- 5.5 Predicting Future Hurricanes -- 5.6 Measuring the Size and Destructiveness of an Earthquake -- 5.7 What Causes Human Fatalities? -- 5.8 Evidence of Adaptation to Tropical Cyclones -- 5.9 Modeling Behavioral Adaptation Strategies -- 5.10 Contributions of Empirical Studies to Catastrophe Literature -- References -- Chapter 6 Catastrophe Policies: An Evaluation of Historical Developments and Outstanding Issues -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Protecting the Earth from Asteroids -- 6.3 Earthquake Policies and Programs -- 6.4 Hurricane, Cyclone, and Typhoon Policies and Programs -- 6.5 Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Weapons -- 6.6 Criteria Pollutants: The Clean Air Act -- 6.7 Toxic Chemicals and Hazardous Substances: Toxic Substances Control Act -- 6.8 Ozone Depletion: The Montreal Protocol -- 6.9 Global Warming: The Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement -- 6.10 Strangelets: High‐Risk Physics Experiments -- 6.11 Artificial Intelligence -- 6.12 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 7 Insights for Practitioners: Making Rational Decisions on a Global or Even Universal Catastrophe -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Lessons from the Multidisciplinary Literature of Catastrophes -- 7.3 Fears of Low‐Minds and High‐Minds: Opinion Surveys.

7.4 Planet‐wide Catastrophes or Universal Catastrophes -- 7.5 Making Rational Decisions on Planet‐wide or Universal Catastrophes -- 7.6 Conclusion -- References -- Index -- EULA.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.