It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes, or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his six francs in some way, which this accident has prevented.
To which, Krugman would reply that it is just as good for the child to steal the shoes or the book as it was to break the window; in other words, Krugman is a moron... a dangerous, self-aggrandizing, and psychotic moron.
From an economic standpoint, theft is much better than destruction.
Theft merely transfers the value of an economic good (say, six francs) from one person to another. Breakage destroys wealth, requiring that an additional six francs be used to replace the window. This reduces the total wealth of the world (or of France) by six francs.
It's not quite that simple, but almost.
Hurricanes and disasters are great for my personal economy, but that's due to my line of work.