Under certain conditions, risk-sharing and, in particular, insurance are mutually advantageous transactions. An ideal competitive market for risk-shifting is described; the payments received by individuals depend on the resolution of all the uncertainties at the time of the market, including, for...

A methodology for rational pricing of catastrophe insurance is described. The methodology has two components: a solvency- and stability-based framework, and an engine to quantify the loss variability that drives solvency and stability. Generalization to account for contagious effects of...

This article examines the actual events of the Bhopal gas disaster as a prelude to considering the social treatment of catastrophic risks of this variety. In the context of the conference, Bhopal is held out to be symbolic of man-made catastrophes having sudden impact and is therefore the...

When insurance firms can monitor with non-prohibitive costs the consumption of risk-influencing goods by an insured, they have incentives to tax-subsidize the insured's consumption of the goods. If the government cannot monitor at a lower cost than private insurers, intervention is neither...

This article explains how lobbying pressure intensifies tax-transfer inefficiencies in disaster prevention and relief. The social-welfare tradeoff in the government's joint provision of safety regulation and disaster relief is distorted by disinformational lobbying activity by disaster-exposed...

We build two experimental markets to examine individual valuations of risk reductions with two risk-management tools: self-insurance and self-protection. We find no positive evidence that the risk-reducing mechanisms constitute a "frame." Ambiguity in the probability on average affects valuation...

This article addresses the comparative advantage of the government to the private property/casualty insurance industry for the provision of insurance coverage for catastrophic losses. That the government can play an important role as an insurer of societal losses has been a central public policy...

Losses from natural disasters have increased in recent years due to growth of population in hazard-prone areas and inadequate enforcement of building codes. This article first examines why homeowners have not voluntarily adopted cost-effective protective measures and have limited interest in...

The global use of derivative instruments has grown in importance, because they are less expensive tools for hedging risks and for investing in securities. Because several entities have incurred substantial losses in derivatives, leading to bankruptcy in a few cases, and because the size of the...

The purpose of this essay is to explore the implications for public policy of the assumption that policy makers exhibit the same cognitive and perceptual problems as other citizens regarding catastrophic events. The key conclusion is that the same factors that cause citizens to behave...