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Climate change will be on the social, business, and political agenda for decades to come. Economists, too, will have a growing influence in shaping this debate. As we do so, it is important for us to consider our responsibilities in helping develop innovative and actionable solutions to reduce vulnerability to disasters for the largest-possible number of people, both rich and poor. In an increasingly interdependent world, this is surely a wise posture to adopt in order to ensure an equitable balance between the North and the South.

RECOMMENDED READING

Cummins, J. D., and O. Mahul (2009). Catastrophe Risk Financing in Developing Countries: Principles for Public Intervention. World Bank Publications, Washington, DC.

Gurenko, E., ed. (2004). “Climate Change and Insurance: Disaster Risk Financing in Developing Countries.” Special edition of Climate Policy 6: 599-684.

Linnerooth-Bayer, J., R. Mechler, and G. Pflug (2005). Refocusing Disaster Aid. Science 309: 1044-1046.

Thompson, M., and M. Verweij, eds. (2006). Clumsy Solutions for a Complex World: Governance, Politics and Plural Perceptions. Hampshire, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan.

Mechler, R., J. Linnerooth-Bayer, and D. Peppiatt (2006). “Disaster Insurance for the Poor? A Review of Microinsurance for Natural Disaster Risks in Developing Countries.” ProVention Consortium, IIASA.

PART FIVE

WHAT DIFFERENCE CAN WE MAKE?

THE IRRATIONAL ECONOMIST ENDS with a somewhat unusual series of contributions regarding the role of economists and other social scientists in society. The first four parts of the book have provided us with in-depth analyses and evidence on how we make decisions in a dangerous world and how we can improve our decision processes to achieve better outcomes. But in order to truly modify our behavior, as individuals and as a society, this knowledge must be shared with many, from students to the very top decision makers, and integrated into new ways of making decisions.

How can we accomplish this? What are the roles and responsibilities of economists and other decision scientists here and abroad? What tangible initiatives can be launched to tackle the most pressing issues on both the national and the global agendas? Why does research funding matter so greatly? What concrete action principles can we recommend? In a nutshell, what difference can we make in the world?

26

Are We Making a Difference?

BARUCH FISCHHOFF

Howard Kunreuther’s career has been dedicated to producing research and remedies, aimed at helping people to make better decisions. That commitment has led him to an uncommon variety of methods and collaborations. He has conducted field surveys, qualitative interviews, and laboratory experiments, in addition to more conventional economic modeling and theorizing—in order to triangulate on complex problems. He has spent time with insurance salespeople, regulators, and executives—in order to understand problems more fully. He has written papers satisfying the editorial standards of economics, psychology, disaster research, and risk analysis—in order to get the work to the most relevant academic audiences. He has convened unusual working groups. He has provided missing pieces to similarly spirited work that others have undertaken, myself included.

How can we tell how well our joint experiment is working? We’ve had a good time intellectually and made some great friends. Universities have thought enough of the exercise to indulge us with positions and resources. People attend our workshops, contribute to our journals, and study with us. We get to opine, here and there—in the news media, before government, on advisory panels, and in boardrooms. These experiences, in themselves, should constitute satisfying careers. However, unlike Marx’s philosophers, we want to change the world, not just explain it.

Yet, we are not full-time consultants, entrepreneurs, or legislators, positioned to see our grand ideas through to practical