Hamish McRae: Human Solidarity and Economic Self-Interest: From Disaster We Can Forge New Relationships

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People matter more than economics. The financial consequences of the tsunami must and will remain secondary to the human ones. But there will be economic consequences and these will affect people's livelihoods. While it is too early to fully comprehend the human toll, it is possible to set out a framework for thinking through the economic aspects of the catastrophe.

For we do know quite a lot about the way that natural disasters affect economic activity. We know that at a macro-economic level - the big numbers of gross domestic product or inflation - the overall impact is surprisingly small. We also know that at a micro-economic level - the towns, industries, companies …