Quick Overview

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    This is the latest version of the "Katrina" model that I'm building with my colleagues Mark Nichols, Munaf Amir, Diana Damyanova, and Esra Unluaslan. We are using it to look at polices aimed at rebuilding the city of New Orleans such as funding an organization like Habitat for Humanity to help rebuild the city's housing stock, while simultaneously running an "employer of last resort" (ELR) program that provides displaced residents with jobs. The model will continue to evolve as we learn more and devote more resources to its improvement. You can click here to download a paper that describes this version of the Katrina model in more detail and here to download a PDFed Power Point presentation that is based on the paper.

    To run the Katrina model, you must first click on the "Import Map" button. This will load a map of New Orleans into the model. Next, set the various slider bars and switches to represent the simulation experiment you wish to run. Some suggested experiments are described below, although you are encouraged to run your own scenarios. Last, click on the "go" button to start the simulation. To stop a simulation, click on the "go" button again.

Recommended Scenarios

Scenario 1 (Base Run): Leave all the slider bars and switches at their default positions.

Scenario 2 (Habitat Builds Actively): Leave everything the same as in scenario 1 except turn on the "habitat-builds-actively" switch.

Scenario 3 (Habitat Builds Actively and Runs an ELR Program): Leave everything the same as in scenario 2 except turn on the "habitat-acts-as-ELR" switch.