This disaster risk finance (DFR) diagnostic was prepared by the World Bank Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice in response to a request from the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) for a study to assess the institutional, legal, and financial planning for financing of disaster risk...

This study examines the geographical spillover of the state-level average homeowners insurance cost for 48 US contiguous states. We estimate a panel spatial Durbin model with state and year fixed effect for data between 2001 and 2018. We found a significant positive spillover of average...

This paper proposes a possible EU-level solution to address the widening gap in natural catastrophe insurance protection in Europe. Increased economic exposure and the growing frequency and severity of natural catastrophes linked to climate change have been driving up the cost of natural...

Using unique nationwide property-level mortgage, flood risk, and flood map data, we analyze whether lenders respond to flood risk that is not captured in FEMA flood maps. We find that lenders are less willing to originate mortgages and charge higher rates for lower LTV loans that face...

This study examines natural disasters' short-run and long-run effects on economic growth. We analysed insurance's short-run and long-run role in the natural disaster-economic growth nexus using 48 African countries from 2000 to 2020. Using a two-step system GMM, the study revealed that natural...

The objective of this feasibility study is to identify disaster risk finance and insurance (DRFI) solutions for up to 1.9 million family farmers in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. This study is motivated by an emerging consensus on the need to design and implement large-scale DRFI...

This study explores how the System Dynamics modeling approach can help deal with the problem of conventional insurance mechanisms by studying the feedback loops governing complex systems connected to the disaster insurance mechanism. Instead of addressing the disaster's underlying risk, the...

Many studies have investigated flood risk and insurance coverage in the 100-year flood zone, but much less is known about the periphery of the flood zone. We present a new approach to estimate flood risk and insurance take-up in the vicinity of the flood zone based on building-level inundation...

We present a theory of the demand for flood insurance and empirically analyze the effects of the adoption of Risk Rating 2.0, using individual insurance histories for all NFIP policies. The reform increased exit and reduced entry, both in the flood zone and its periphery. The reform had highly...

By leveraging randomly timed exposure to local cyclones as natural experiments, this study pioneers a comprehensive causal analysis of cyclone impacts on residential outcomes among Australian individuals. Drawing upon over two decades of nationally representative longitudinal data from the...

Amidst growing concerns over heightened natural disaster risks, this study pioneers an inquiry into the causal impacts of cyclones on the demand for private health insurance (PHI) in Australia. We amalgamate a nationally representative longitudinal dataset with historical cyclone records,...

Rainfall is an important source of covariate shock in developing countries. Insurance against a rainfall index has, therefore, held much promise as a formal insurance product to protect the livelihoods of poor farmers. But how good is rainfall as a measure of covariate shocks? The imperfect...

This diagnostic report was prepared in response to a technical assistance request from the Government of the Republic of Namibia (GRN) to support the design and implementation of an index-based agriculture insurance program targeting small-scale farmers. Based on initial consultations with the...

The frequency and economic damage of natural disasters have increased globally over the last two decades due to climate change. This increase has an impact on the disaster insurance field, particularly in the calculation of premiums. Many regions have a shortcoming in employing insurance because...

Elementarschäden an Immobilien werden klimabedingt zunehmen, aber noch immer sindin Deutschland nicht alle Wohnimmobilien gegen Elementarschäden versichert. Sie sindaber überall zu tragbaren Prämien versicherbar. Die zentralen Parameter, die es zu regelngilt, sind der Abdeckungsgrad...

Homeowners need easily understandable information about insurance policies in order to evaluate their current coverage and to shop effectively for insurance. But insurance is the only product for which consumers don’t know what they are buying before they buy it. Insurance companies almost...

The high and increasing cost of natural disasters around the world motivates a growing body of literature on the role of natural disaster insurance in adapting to climate change. This chapter reviews current challenges in both public and private natural disaster insurance markets in the United...

This article presents a novel data set that describes insurance industry-wide trends on the pervasive and material inadequacy of homeowner insurance. A large majority of insured homes in the United States are profoundly underinsured, and the homeowners do not know it. Insurance companies have...

Flooding is one of the most disastrous natural hazards responsible for substantial economic losses. To address this issue, developing a predictive model for flood-induced financial damages holds immense value in various areas, such as climate change adaptation planning and insurance...

Premium subsidies are an instrument to address low demand for natural hazard insurance, which is partly caused by governmental disaster relief payments. This study analyzes how the introduction of ex ante premium subsidies affects the frost insurance demand of German wine growers after the...

The dangers posed by natural disasters are a source of concern for policymakers. Severe occurrences caused by the devastation may contribute to the economic collapse and increase in sovereign debt. A catastrophe bond (CAT bond) can be utilized to transfer catastrophe risk to the financial...

Elementarschäden an Immobilien werden klimabedingt zunehmen, aber noch immer sindin Deutschland nicht alle Wohnimmobilien gegen Elementarschäden versichert. Sie sindaber überall zu tragbaren Prämien versicherbar. Die zentralen Parameter, die es zu regelngilt, sind der Abdeckungsgrad...

Historical losses due to hurricanes have been significant in Sint Maarten (SXM) since 1960, with the most severe impact having been experienced in 2017 following Hurricane Irma. The objective of this report is to provide recommendations to the Government of Sint Maarten (GoSXM) for the...

The objective of this report is to make recommendations for the Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica (GoCD) for the formulation of a country-specific comprehensive disaster risk financing (DRF) strategy, based on the assessment of the legislative, financial management, fiscal, and...

The agriculture sector observed the penetration of parametric weather risk financial products, including weather index insurance and weather derivatives, between the late 1990s and the early 2000s. However, the adoption of such products remains low. While the reasons for low adoption are...

The 28th United Nations Conference of Parties (COP 28) in November 2023 started with the manifestation of concrete commitments from developed countries and ended with a progressive promise to complete the establishment of a climate change loss and damage fund, sustain and administer country...