Traditionally, analysts have cautioned that Chinese growth figures should be greeted with skepticism, but, according to one school of economic thought, there may be something to the idea that the quake served as a brutal stimulus. In fact, some economists argue that hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, ice storms, and the like, despite the widespread destruction they leave behind – indeed, largely because of it – can spur economic growth.

Rebuilding efforts serve as a short-term boost by attracting resources to a country, and the disasters themselves, by destroying old factories and old roads, airports, and bridges, allow new and more efficient public and private infrastructure to be built, forcing the transition to a sleeker, more productive economy in the long term.

Because of this upgrade in technology and efficiency, disasters might actually spur innovation:

Studies have found that earthquakes in California and Alaska helped stir economic activity there, and that countries with more hurricanes and storms tend to see higher rates of growth. Some of the most recent work has found a link between disasters and subsequent innovation.

There are critics of such findings, who point to the negative effects of diverted human energy and natural resources lost, but there are numerous striking examples of the long-term value:

The research on longer-run effects, its supporters argue, is less vulnerable to this criticism, because the key factor is not merely new stuff but better stuff. In this model, disasters perform the economic service of clearing out outdated infrastructure to make way for more efficient replacements – Mother Nature’s contribution to what the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter famously called capitalism’s “creative destruction.” The economy, as it recovers, actually becomes more productive than it was before, and some economists argue that the effect can be seen decades after the disaster.

Of course, those individuals who are killed by natural disasters, or their friends and families, might have a different opinion about the value of capitalism’s and Mother Nature’s “creative destruction”, but chances are good that many of us living today are better off thanks to horrible disasters endured by our predecessors. Which should make you feel better about “taking one for the team” by living through our current economic disaster, if it helps to improve the future prospects of our children and grandchildren.