DATA A DAY:
Declaring a calamity

EVERYONE SEEMS quite familiar by now with that sentence often heard in the news: So-and-so has declared a state of calamity…

Unfortunately, the implications of that sentence usually just pass over most people’s heads. When a state of calamity is declared, what happens next? Is it just a recognition that something is very wrong? Is it to tell people what they already know? Or is it a tool to remind insurance companies to start reconsidering their premiums?

For today’s Data a Day, we ask you the questions:

Who can declare a state of calamity? And, perhaps more importantly, what is the point of that declaration?

For the answer to those questions, just click here, or visit our MoneyPolitics Online site here.