Community revival in the wake of disaster: Lessons in local entrepreneurship

In this talk, Virgil Henry Storr, a Research Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at George Mason University, talks about his research into to post-disaster recovery and the role that social entrepreneurship plays in rebuilding the communities and social networks that get disrupted, or entirely eliminated, by a disaster of massive proportions such as hurricane Katrina was. His work blends theoretical and analytical framework of Austrian economics with ethnographic field work methods and shows the power of crossing disciplines and combining methodologies for understanding social life.

Comment from our editors:

A relevant application of the theoretical framework for a studying real-world problem. It is an excellent example of a marriage between economics and anthropology, and therefore an example of how humanities can be brought closer to economic studies.

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