It’s an ill wind that blows no one good, sailors say — and economists agree.
Hurricane Sandy did an estimated $50 billion in property damage along the east coast, mostly in New Jersey and the coastline around New York City. The devastation offers opportunity. As soon as the rescue and cleanup crews leave, construction companies will move in to repair, rebuild and replace.
The billions of losses will be offset to some extent by billions in construction costs and in retail sales growing from the need to replace clothes, furniture, cars and the long, long list of damaged or destroyed possessions.
Because the damage was so great, the amount that insurance companies will pay and victims must shell out from savings and borrowings will also be huge.
Big enough, economists predict, that the economy will get a modest but significant boost.
State and local governments will add to the stimulus by spending on damaged roads and bridges and, in the longer term, preparing for the next storm in ways that will limit the damage it will cause.
New York and New Jersey were hit hardest and can expect to see the biggest boost. Unemployment will drop in those states. The hardest hit areas will seize the opportunity to replace destroyed areas in creative ways.
It will be many months away, but the post-Sandy Atlantic coast will rise better than the one the storm surge left in ruins.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
