Zoom and gloom

IN 1973 THE Eldfell volcano, long-dormant, erupted on Heimaey, an island off Iceland. The eruption destroyed about 400 homes, a third of the total (Heimaey’s seaport was saved by pumping seawater into the lava). The Icelandic government compensated the unlucky people who lost their homes, many of whom never returned. But when Emi Nakamura and Jon Steinsson of the University of California at Berkeley and Josef Sigurdsson of the Norwegian School of Economics studied how they fared later, they discovered a reversal of fortunes. Among people less than 25 years old at the time of the eruption, those who had moved averaged four more years of schooling and earnings $27,000 greater per year than those from families who had kept their home. Being forced to move had its advantages.