As the Gulf Coast attempts to recover from the emotional and physical scars of Hurricane Katrina, the nation’s most expensive natural disaster, Wharton and University of Pennsylvania faculty are raising questions about how society should assess and perceive risk, and how it should compensate victims when disaster strikes. Analyzing the Role of the U.S. Government as Insurer of Last Resort when Disaster Strikes A new book entitled, On Risk and Disaster: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina, by University of Pennsylvania provost Ronald J. Daniels, political science professor Donald F. Kettl and Howard C. Kunreuther , Wharton professor of operations and information management, argues that the U.S. government has become an insurer of last resort and questions whether that unofficial policy is contributing to larger and costlier disasters.…