IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/lue/wpaper/34.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Natural vs. financial insurance in the management of public-good ecosystems

Author

Listed:
  • Martin F. Quaas

    (Department of Ecological Modelling, UFZ-Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig-Halle)

  • Stefan Baumgärtner

    (Centre for Sustainability, University of Lüneburg)

Abstract

In the face of uncertainty, ecosystems can provide natural insurance to risk averse users of ecosystem services. We employ a conceptual ecological-economic model to analyze the allocation of (endogenous) risk and ecosystem quality by risk averse ecosystem managers who have access to financial insurances, and study the implications for individually and socially optimal ecosystem management, and policy design. We show that while an improved access to financial insurance leads to lower ecosystem quality, the effect on the free-rider problem and on welfare is determined by ecosystem properties. We derive conditions on ecosystem functioning under which, if financial insurance becomes more accessible, (i) the extent of optimal regulation increases or decreases; and (ii) welfare, in the absence of environmental regulation, increases or decreases.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin F. Quaas & Stefan Baumgärtner, 2006. "Natural vs. financial insurance in the management of public-good ecosystems," Working Paper Series in Economics 34, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:lue:wpaper:34
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.leuphana.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Forschungseinrichtungen/ifvwl/WorkingPapers/lue/pdf/wp_34_Upload.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sandler, Todd & Sternbenz, Frederic P., 1990. "Harvest uncertainty and the tragedy of the commons," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 155-167, March.
    2. Rauscher, Michael & Barbier, Edward B., 2010. "Biodiversity and geography," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 241-260, April.
    3. Baumgärtner, Stefan & Quaas, Martin, 2005. "The private and public insurance value of conservative biodiversity management," UFZ Discussion Papers 27/2005, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    4. Shogren, Jason F. & Crocker, Thomas D., 1999. "Risk and Its Consequences," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 44-51, January.
    5. Skees, Jerry & Varangis, Panos & Larson, Donald & Siegel, Paul, 2002. "Can financial markets be tapped to help poor people cope with weather risks ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2812, The World Bank.
    6. Ehrlich, Isaac & Becker, Gary S, 1972. "Market Insurance, Self-Insurance, and Self-Protection," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(4), pages 623-648, July-Aug..
    7. Olivier Mahul, 2001. "Optimal Insurance Against Climatic Experience," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(3), pages 593-604.
    8. JunJie Wu, 1999. "Crop Insurance, Acreage Decisions, and Nonpoint-Source Pollution," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(2), pages 305-320.
    9. Yann Bramoullé & Nicolas Treich, 2009. "Can Uncertainty Alleviate the Commons Problem?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(5), pages 1042-1067, September.
    10. Haiping Luo & Jerry R. Skees & Mary A. Marchant, 1994. "Weather Information and the Potential for Intertemporal Adverse Selection in Crop Insurance," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 16(3), pages 441-451.
    11. Henk Folmer & H. Landis Gabel & Shelby Gerking & Adam Rose (ed.), 2001. "Frontiers of Environmental Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1929.
    12. Olivier Mahul, 2001. "Optimal insurance against climatic experience," Post-Print hal-01952102, HAL.
    13. John K. Horowitz & Erik Lichtenberg, 1993. "Insurance, Moral Hazard, and Chemical Use in Agriculture," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 75(4), pages 926-935.
    14. Eppink, Florian V. & Withagen, Cees A., 2009. "Spatial patterns of biodiversity conservation in a multiregional general equilibrium model," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 75-88, May.
    15. Mario Miranda & Dmitry V. Vedenov, 2001. "Innovations in Agricultural and Natural Disaster Insurance," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(3), pages 650-655.
    16. Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh (ed.), 1999. "Handbook of Environmental and Resource Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 801.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stefan Baumgärtner & Martin F. Quaas, 2007. "Agro-biodiversity as natural insurance and the development of financial insurance markets," Working Paper Series in Economics 61, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    2. Müller, Birgit & Quaas, Martin F. & Frank, Karin & Baumgärtner, Stefan, 2011. "Pitfalls and potential of institutional change: Rain-index insurance and the sustainability of rangeland management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 2137-2144, September.
    3. Stefan Baumgärtner & Martin F. Quaas, 2010. "Managing increasing environmental risks through agrobiodiversity and agrienvironmental policies," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(5), pages 483-496, September.
    4. Carriquiry, Miguel A. & Osgood, Daniel E., 2006. "Index Insurance, Production Practices, and Probabilistic Climate Forecasts," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21463, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    5. Aditya Kusuma & Bethanna Jackson & Ilan Noy, 2018. "A viable and cost-effective weather index insurance for rice in Indonesia," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 43(2), pages 186-218, September.
    6. Pascual, Unai & Termansen, Mette & Hedlund, Katarina & Brussaard, Lijbert & Faber, Jack H. & Foudi, Sébastien & Lemanceau, Philippe & Jørgensen, Sisse Liv, 2015. "On the value of soil biodiversity and ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 11-18.
    7. Jørgensen, Sisse Liv & Termansen, Mette & Pascual, Unai, 2020. "Natural insurance as condition for market insurance: Climate change adaptation in agriculture," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    8. Barnett, Barry J. & Barrett, Christopher B. & Skees, Jerry R., 2008. "Poverty Traps and Index-Based Risk Transfer Products," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 1766-1785, October.
    9. Isaboke, Hezron Nyarindo & Qiao, Zhang & Nyarindo, Wilckyster Nyateko & Ke, Wang, 2016. "Explaining The Perception Of Smallholders Towards Weather Index Micro-Insurance Alongside Risks And Coping Strategies," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 4(4), pages 1-19, October.
    10. Diego Arias & Katia Covarrubias, 2006. "Agricultural Insurance in Mesoamerica: An Opportunity to Deepen Rural Financial Markets," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 36538, Inter-American Development Bank.
    11. Osman Gulseven & Kasirga Yildirak, 2020. "Indemnity Payments in Agricultural Insurance: Risk Exposure of EU States," Papers 2003.05726, arXiv.org.
    12. Narcis Eduard Mitu, 2007. "Present Framework Of Agricultural Insurance," Revista Tinerilor Economisti (The Young Economists Journal), University of Craiova, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 1(9), pages 39-42, November.
    13. Arias, Diego & Covarrubias, Katia, 2006. "Agricultural Insurance in Mesoamerica: An Opportunity to Deepen Rural Financial Markets," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 3042, Inter-American Development Bank.
    14. Berry, Kevin & Fenichel, Eli P. & Robinson, Brian E., 2019. "The ecological insurance trap," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    15. Mitu, Narcis Eduard, 2007. "Agricultural insurances in Romania: present and future aspects," MPRA Paper 10773, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Bucheli, Janic & Dalhaus, Tobias & Finger, Robert, 2022. "Temperature effects on crop yields in heat index insurance," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    17. Lin, Shanshan & Mullen, Jeffrey D. & Hoogenboom, Gerrit, 2009. "Spatial and Temporal On-Farm Risk Management - Crop Production Scheduling and Index Insurance Strategies," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49350, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. Kalavakonda, Vijay & Mahul, Olivier, 2005. "Crop insurance in Karnataka," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3654, The World Bank.
    19. Coleman, Jane A. & Shaik, Saleem, 2009. "Time-Varying Estimation of Crop Insurance Program in Altering North Dakota Farm Economic Structure," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49516, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    20. Glauber, Joseph W., 2017. "Agricultural insurance and the WTO:," IFPRI book chapters, in: Bouët, Antoine & Laborde Debucquet, David (ed.), Agriculture, development, and the global trading system: 2000– 2015, chapter 10, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ecosystem quality; ecosystem services; ecosystem management; endogenous environmental risk; insurance; risk-aversion; uncertainty;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:lue:wpaper:34. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Wagner (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://leuphana.de/institute/ivwl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.