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Some Aspects of the Economics of Catastrophe Risk Insurance

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  • Christian Gollier

Abstract

The ability to share risk efficiently in the economy is essential to welfare and growth. However, the increased frequency of natural catastrophes over the last decade has raised once again questions associated to the limits of insurability in a free-market economy, and to the relevance of public interventions on risk-sharing markets. In this paper, we explore the potential reasons for the lack of insurance specifically associated to catastrophe environmental risks. Our final aim is to link each source of possible market inefficiency to its possible remedies.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Gollier, 2005. "Some Aspects of the Economics of Catastrophe Risk Insurance," CESifo Working Paper Series 1409, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1409
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    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp1409.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Aglaia Petseti & Milton Nektarios, 2012. "Proposal for a National Earthquake Insurance Programme for Greece," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 37(2), pages 377-400, April.
    2. Georges Dionne & Denise Desjardins, 2022. "A re‐examination of the US insurance market's capacity to pay catastrophe losses," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 25(4), pages 515-549, December.
    3. Feduzi, Alberto & Runde, Jochen, 2011. "The uncertain foundations of the welfare state," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 613-627.
    4. W. J. W. Botzen & J. C. J. M. Van Den Bergh, 2008. "Insurance Against Climate Change and Flooding in the Netherlands: Present, Future, and Comparison with Other Countries," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 413-426, April.
    5. Mario Jametti & Thomas von Ungern-Sternberg, 2006. "Risk Selection in Natural Disaster Insurance – the Case of France," CESifo Working Paper Series 1683, CESifo.
    6. Johannes Emmerling, 2018. "Sharing Of Climate Risks Across World Regions," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 9(03), pages 1-19, August.
    7. Qihao He & Michael Faure & Chengwei Liu, 2023. "The possibilities and limits of insurance as governance in insuring pandemics," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 48(3), pages 641-668, July.
    8. Matthias Schmidt & Hermann Held & Elmar Kriegler & Alexander Lorenz, 2013. "Climate Policy Under Uncertain and Heterogeneous Climate Damages," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 54(1), pages 79-99, January.
    9. Michael G. Faure & Kristel De Smedt, 2019. "Compensation for victims of disasters: a task for Europe?," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 44(4), pages 732-759, October.
    10. Véronique Bruggeman & Michael G. Faure & Miriam Haritz, 2008. "Schadensersatz für Opfer von Naturkatastrophen: ein Vergleich zwischen Belgien und den Niederlanden," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 77(4), pages 18-43.
    11. Zhu, Wenge, 2011. "Ambiguity aversion and an intertemporal equilibrium model of catastrophe-linked securities pricing," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 38-46, July.
    12. Rodrigo S. Targino & Gareth W. Peters & Georgy Sofronov & Pavel V. Shevchenko, 2013. "Optimal insurance purchase strategies via optimal multiple stopping times," Papers 1312.0424, arXiv.org.
    13. Mario Jametti & Thomas von Ungern-Sternberg, 2009. "Hurricane Insurance in Florida," Quaderni della facoltà di Scienze economiche dell'Università di Lugano 0905, USI Università della Svizzera italiana.
    14. Perez-Maqueo, O. & Intralawan, A. & Martinez, M.L., 2007. "Coastal disasters from the perspective of ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2-3), pages 273-284, August.
    15. Chi, Yichun & Zheng, Jiakun & Zhuang, Shengchao, 2022. "S-shaped narrow framing, skewness and the demand for insurance," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 279-292.
    16. Rodrigo S. Targino & Gareth W. Peters & Georgy Sofronov & Pavel V. Shevchenko, 2017. "Optimal Exercise Strategies for Operational Risk Insurance via Multiple Stopping Times," Methodology and Computing in Applied Probability, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 487-518, June.
    17. Mario Jametti & Thomas von Ungern-Sternberg, 2010. "Risk Selection in Natural-Disaster Insurance," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 166(2), pages 344-364, June.
    18. Valente, Donatella & Miglietta, Pier Paolo & Porrini, Donatella & Pasimeni, Maria Rita & Zurlini, Giovanni & Petrosillo, Irene, 2019. "A first analysis on the need to integrate ecological aspects into financial insurance," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 392(C), pages 117-127.
    19. Mario Jametti & Thomas von Ungern-Sternberg, 2010. "Risk Selection in Natural-Disaster Insurance," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 166(2), pages 344-364, June.
    20. Alexander Braun & Marius Fischer & Csilla Schreiber-Orosz, 2024. "Why banks insure structured commodity trade finance risk: evidence from a worldwide survey," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 49(3), pages 537-570, July.

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