Why the big freeze turns economics upside down

Strange to say, but when the snow comes, the losers tend to be many big organizations, while winners often are smaller, locally owned firms

You didn't have to venture much further than the Amtrak station in Providence, Rhode Island on Tuesday to witness the have/have not economic fallout of the big freeze in action.

At one end of the concourse, commuters were lining up to get weather-related refunds for their pricey Acela tickets, after still more snow - another 3ft - brought the city's total for February alone to more than 2ft. Three inches of snow isn't much to complain about these days, but combined with the chaos winter has wrought in Boston, it was enough to derail schedules, causing widespread cancellations and delays of more than three hours. I eventually got off my stationary train - which also happened to be without heat and lighting - and trudged back upstairs to join the queue for refunds.