UNORTHODOX ECONOMICS On the Cost of Catastrophes: Are Recessions as Bad as Wars, Famines and Pogroms? The Numbers Tell a Surprising Story

John Weeks is an economist specializing in development economics and macroeconomic issues. He has taught for many years at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where he is Professor Emeritus. He has posted in his blog scathing critiques of the economic policy applied by the conservative-liberal government in the United Kingdom. In ‘‘A Brighter Economic Vision for the British Economy,’’ he pointed out the collapse in investment as the key factor to be tackled in dealing with the depression of the British economy (Burke, Irvin, and Weeks 2011). To remedy the problem, Weeks and his co-authors proposed a quintessential Keynesian idea, a National Investment Bank. They suggested the bank could be formed by using the government’s majority shareholdings in Lloyds-TSB and RBS, two major British banks that were bailed out in the 2008 financial crisis: