Query: The monetary cost of damages has increased dramatically in recent decades, but that is due to increasing population, wealth and the amount of vulnerable infrastructure.

Relevant passages:
United States <=SEP=> The United States of America ( USA ) , commonly known as the United States ( U.S. ) or America , is a constitutional federal republic composed of 50 states , a federal district , five major self-governing territories , and various possessions .  Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico . The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America , bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west . The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean . The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea . Nine time zones are covered . The geography , climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse .   At 3.8 million square miles ( 9.8 million km2 ) and with over 324 million people , the United States is the world 's third - or fourth-largest country by total area , third-largest by land area , and the third-most populous . It is one of the world 's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations , and is home to the world 's largest immigrant population . The capital is Washington , D.C. , and the largest city is New York City ; nine other major metropolitan areas -- each with at least 4.5 million inhabitants and the largest having more than 13 million people -- are Los Angeles , Chicago , Dallas , Houston , Philadelphia , Miami , Atlanta , Boston , and San Francisco .   Paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago . European colonization began in the 16th century . The United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast . Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the Seven Years ' War led to the American Revolution , which began in 1775 . On July 4 , 1776 , during the course of the American Revolutionary War , the colonies unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence . The war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain , representing the first successful war of independence against a European power . The current constitution was adopted in 1788 , after the Articles of Confederation , adopted in 1781 , were felt to have provided inadequate federal powers . The first ten amendments , collectively named the Bill of Rights , were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties .   The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century , displacing Native American tribes , acquiring new territories , and gradually admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848 . During the second half of the 19th century , the American Civil War led to the end of legal slavery in the country . By the end of that century , the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean , and its economy , driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution , began to soar . The Spanish -- American War and confirmed the country 's status as a global military power . The United States emerged from as a global superpower , the first country to develop nuclear weapons , the only country to use them in warfare , and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council . The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world 's sole superpower . The U.S. is a founding member of the United Nations , World Bank , International Monetary Fund , Organization of American States ( OAS ) , and other international organizations .   The United States is a highly developed country , with the world 's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP . Though its population is only 4.3 % of the world total , Americans hold nearly 40 % of the total wealth in the world . The United States ranks among the highest in several measures of socioeconomic performance , including average wage , human development , per capita GDP , and productivity per person . While the U.S. economy is considered post-industrial , characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy , the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world . Accounting for approximately a quarter of global GDP and a third of global military spending , the United States is the world 's foremost economic and military power . The United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally , and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations .

Neoliberalism <=SEP=> Neoliberalism ( neo-liberalism ) refers primarily to the 20th-century resurgence of 19th-century ideas associated with laissez-faire economic liberalism . These include extensive economic liberalization policies such as privatization , fiscal austerity , deregulation , free trade , and reductions in government spending in order to increase the role of the private sector in the economy and society . These market-based ideas and the policies they inspired constitute a paradigm shift away from the post-war Keynesian consensus which lasted from 1945 to 1980 .   The term has been used in English since the start of the 20th century with different meanings , but became more prevalent in its current meaning in the 1970s and 1980s by scholars in a wide variety of social sciences , as well as being used by critics . Modern advocates of free market policies avoid the term `` neoliberal '' and some scholars have described the term as meaning different things to different people , as neoliberalism `` mutated '' into geopolitically distinct hybrids as it travelled around the world . As such , neoliberalism shares many attributes with other contested concepts , including democracy .   The definition and usage of the term have changed over time . It was originally an economic philosophy that emerged among European liberal scholars in the 1930s in an attempt to trace a so-called `` third '' or `` middle '' way between the conflicting philosophies of classical liberalism and socialist planning . The impetus for this development arose from a desire to avoid repeating the economic failures of the early 1930s , which were mostly blamed by neoliberals on the economic policy of classical liberalism . In the decades that followed , the use of the term neoliberal tended to refer to theories at variance with the more laissez-faire doctrine of classical liberalism , and promoted instead a market economy under the guidance and rules of a strong state , a model which came to be known as the social market economy .   In the 1960s , usage of the term `` neoliberal '' heavily declined . When the term was reintroduced in the 1980s in connection with Augusto Pinochet 's economic reforms in Chile , the usage of the term had shifted . It had not only become a term with negative connotations employed principally by critics of market reform , but it also had shifted in meaning from a moderate form of liberalism to a more radical and laissez-faire capitalist set of ideas . Scholars now tended to associate it with the theories of economists Friedrich Hayek , Milton Friedman and James M. Buchanan , along with politicians and policy-makers such as Margaret Thatcher , Ronald Reagan and Alan Greenspan . Once the new meaning of neoliberalism was established as a common usage among Spanish-speaking scholars , it diffused into the English-language study of political economy . By 1994 , with the passage of NAFTA and the Zapatistas ' reaction to this development in Chiapas , the term entered global circulation . Scholarship on the phenomenon of neoliberalism has been growing . The impact of the global 2008 -- 2009 crisis has also given rise to new scholarship that critiques neoliberalism and seeks developmental alternatives .

Economics of global warming <=SEP=> The economics of global warming concerns the economic aspects of global warming ; this can inform policies that governments might consider in response . A number of factors make this a difficult problem from both economic and political perspectives : it is a long-term , intergenerational problem ; benefits and costs are distributed unequally both within and across countries ; and scientific and public opinions may diverge .   One of the most important greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide . Around 20 % of carbon dioxide which is emitted due to human activities can remain in the atmosphere for many thousands of years . The long time scales and uncertainty associated with global warming have led analysts to develop `` scenarios '' of future environmental , social and economic changes . These scenarios can help governments understand the potential consequences of their decisions .   The impacts of climate change include the loss of biodiversity , sea level rise , increased frequency and severity of some extreme weather events , and acidification of the oceans . Economists have attempted to quantify these impacts in monetary terms , but these assessments can be controversial .   The two main policy responses to global warming are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ( climate change mitigation ) and to adapt to the impacts of global warming ( e.g. , by building levees in response to sea level rise ) . Another policy response which has recently received greater attention is geoengineering of the climate system ( e.g. injecting aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth 's surface ) .   One of the responses to the uncertainties of global warming is to adopt a strategy of sequential decision making . This strategy recognizes that decisions on global warming need to be made with incomplete information , and that decisions in the near term will have potentially long-term impacts . Governments might choose to use risk management as part of their policy response to global warming . For instance , a risk-based approach can be applied to climate impacts which are difficult to quantify in economic terms , e.g. , the impacts of global warming on indigenous peoples .   Analysts have assessed global warming in relation to sustainable development . Sustainable development considers how future generations might be affected by the actions of the current generation . In some areas , policies designed to address global warming may contribute positively towards other development objectives . In other areas , the cost of global warming policies may divert resources away from other socially and environmentally beneficial investments ( the opportunity costs of climate change policy ) .