Auto-assurance, assurance et risques naturels : Une application à la gestion forestière

In this paper, we study the optimal self-insurance or insurance activities for a private forest owner against natural hazards. The specificities of natural risks, especially in forest, make indispensable to adjust the standard models of self-insurance and insurance. We develop such a model in which the number of the states of nature is finite and loss is multiplicative. We analyse the optimal choices of self-insurance and insurance that are different in this framework compared to the standard one. We show that some comparative statics results are ambiguous. We then examine the implication of a public disaster relief program on the optimal coverage decisions. We find that public intervention desincites the private forest owner to self-insure or to insure against natural hazards.