Disaster Recovery Bond Financing: Considerations for Congress

OVERVIEW

A major disaster—whether a flood, earthquake, hurricane, wildfire or terrorist attack—leaves any community in disarray: families are left homeless, businesses are saddled with crippling casualty losses, first responders are stretched to or past the limits of their ability to impactfully respond, and public infrastructure is damaged and destroyed. The economic impacts of these major disasters can be profound. For example, in addition to the physical damage caused in New York City on September 11, 2001, the terrorist attacks are estimated to have caused economic losses of up to $123 billion.¹  In the 10 months immediately following Hurricane Katrina, researchers esti-mated the loss of over 95,000 jobs and $2.9 billion in lost wages for New Orleans residents alone, with 76% of the lost wages attributable to the private sector.²  And the effects of the widespread and severe 2008 floods across the Midwest just on the city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, are estimated to have caused a $447 million reduction in GDP.³  More recently, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, overall economic loss estimates initially ranged between $70 and $190 billion.^4,5

The complete article, "Disaster Recovery Bond Financing: Considerations for Congress," was published on September 5, 2018 by the National Association of Bond Lawyers. Rod Kanter is a co-author of this article.