Anguish—Privatized Costs, Socialized Benefits

Abstract

Some of the former refugees told us that they were keeping their pantries stocked with several months’ worth of supplies, always carrying their passports and important papers with them, and generally were living in preparation for a major emergency. They appeared to have never been able to regain the basic trust and confidence, prevalent among most people, that things will, by and large, turn out all right and that disasters will never occur, or at least very infrequently.