For almost a decade, economists Kevin M. Simmons and Daniel Sutter have been studying the economic impacts and social consequences of the approximately 1,200 tornadoes that touch down across the United States annually. During this time, Simmons and Sutter have been compiling information from sources such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Census in order to examine the casualties caused by tornadoes and to evaluate the National Weather Service’s efforts to reduce these casualties. In Economic and Societal Impacts of Tornadoes, Simmons and Sutter present their findings. This analysis will be extremely useful to anyone studying meteorology and imperative for anyone working in emergency disaster management.

Kevin M. Simmons is the Corrigan Chair of Economics at Austin College. In 2009 he was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to work with the International Center for Geohazards in Oslo. Daniel Sutter is associate professor of economics at the University of Texas–Pan American and a senior affiliated scholar of the Mercatus Institute.