A Slide on "Creative destruction: Analyzing flood and flood control in Bangladesh by LOPAMUDRA BANERJEE Department of Economics , New School for Social Research, The New School "

1. LOPAMUDRA BANERJEE
Department of Economics , New School for Social
Research, The New School
Creative destruction:
Analyzing flood and flood
control in Bangladesh

2.  The main argument of the article is to explore the notion of
‘creative destruction’ by Joseph Schumpeter (2006) in analyzing
the effects of riverine floods on agricultural productivity in
Bangladesh along with how structural measures of flood control
have transformed agricultural practices in the country over the
long run, moreover how the economic transition had caused
unequal consequences for the communities .
Main argument

3. Former context
Role of flood as trigger
agent of disaster
Latter context
Role of flood as an open
access to irrigation
Argument focus

4. Strength ?

5. Creative destruction: a process
‘that incessantly revolutionizes the
economic structure from within,
incessantly destroying the old one,
incessantly creating a new one’ (2006, p.
83)
Flood control: Techno-centric
measures for mitigation of losses
Terms having specific
definitions : Author’s
perspective:

6. Moreover, it also concerned with the
impact of new innovations on social
and economic lives, therefore denoting
a never ending cycle of destruction and
invention of new product and new
methods of invention giving rise to a
form of economic change that never
can be avoided.
New
combination of
productive
means New
productive
unit
new + old
productive
unit
Starts
production
using the
same
necessary
means of
Newer unit
of
production
operating
more
efficiently
Eliminates the
old production
unit

7. Disaster as a force for creative destruction in
agriculture in Bangladesh

8. In the post monsoon period of disaster year, productivity rise above the long-term trend as
well as the normal non-disaster averages of dry season winter crops.

9. Wet-
season
crops
Dry
season
crops
Productivity Lower Higher
Flood risks Higher Lower
Costs Low High
Distribution of risks and
benefits from flooding is
determined by the choice of
farmers. In addition this
choice is constrained by their
expenditure capacity.
Distribution of risks and
benefits:
Thus the pre-existing income distribution of farmers determines their vulnerability to
disaster in consequence poorer farmers have lower chance to be benefited from the post
disaster months than the richer farmers (e.g. irrigation)

10. Showing evidences: Structural measures of flood
control in the transformation of agricultural
practices
Prospect of
HYVs
Shift of wet
season to dry
season
cultivation
Artificial
cultivation :
revolutionary
for the agrarian
economy than
flood control
dramatic
change in
crop cycle
and rhythm
of life
 Structural measures of flood control
were implemented to reduce
vulnerability and to encourage
productivity with assistance for flood
protection
 Krung mission (UN, 1954), FCDI,
EPWPDA 1964: initial master plan to
provide a stable condition
 WDB & ADC: Green revolution in the
country with HYVs of rice in 1960s-
1970s

11. Agricultural production, thereby,
turned out to be based on a
technology that favoured the relatively
scarce and relatively expensive factor
of production thus making itself less
accessible for the poor.

12. Weakness
> Loss of production during
disaster is not compared

13.  Therefore while disasters destroy physical capital or assets of an
economic unit and cause decline of productivity in the short run,
they also provide a space for absorption of modern or more up-
to-date technology creating the opportunity for greater
outcome in the long run.
On the other hand, disaster may provide momentum for
growth of an economy but not everybody can benefit from the
momentum as economic robustness is necessary for a production
unit to absorb the catastrophic risk and turn it to creative
advantage.
conclusion