Barriers to Insurance as a Flood Risk Management Tool: Evidence from a Survey of Property Owners
Abstract By using risk-adjusted price signals to transfer responsibility for property-level flood protection and recovery from governments to property owners, flood insurance represents a key tenet of the flood risk management (FRM) paradigm. The Government of Canada has worked with insurers to intr...
Main Authors: | , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
SpringerOpen
2020-05-01
|
Series: | International Journal of Disaster Risk Science |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-020-00272-z |
id |
doaj-8d01ea1b2d144fcd91bdff441d87637e |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-8d01ea1b2d144fcd91bdff441d87637e2021-05-09T11:20:44ZengSpringerOpenInternational Journal of Disaster Risk Science2095-00552192-63952020-05-0111326327310.1007/s13753-020-00272-zBarriers to Insurance as a Flood Risk Management Tool: Evidence from a Survey of Property OwnersJason Thistlethwaite0Daniel Henstra1Craig Brown2Daniel Scott3School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, University of WaterlooDepartment of Political Science, University of WaterlooClimate Change and Health Adaptation Planning, Vancouver Coastal HealthDepartment of Geography and Environmental Management, University of WaterlooAbstract By using risk-adjusted price signals to transfer responsibility for property-level flood protection and recovery from governments to property owners, flood insurance represents a key tenet of the flood risk management (FRM) paradigm. The Government of Canada has worked with insurers to introduce flood insurance for the first time as a part of a broader shift towards FRM to limit the growing costs of flooding. The viability of flood insurance in Canada, however, has been questioned by research that disputes the utility of purchasing coverage by property owners. This study tested this assumption by drawing on public opinion survey data to assess factors that influence decisions about the utility of insurance. The findings reveal that Canadians have limited knowledge of flood insurance coverage, exhibit a low willingness-to-pay for both insurance and property-level flood protection measures, and expect governments to shoulder much of the financial burden of flood recovery through disaster assistance.https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-020-00272-zFlood insuranceFlood risk managementRisk-sharingWillingness-to-pay |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Jason Thistlethwaite Daniel Henstra Craig Brown Daniel Scott |
spellingShingle |
Jason Thistlethwaite Daniel Henstra Craig Brown Daniel Scott Barriers to Insurance as a Flood Risk Management Tool: Evidence from a Survey of Property Owners International Journal of Disaster Risk Science Flood insurance Flood risk management Risk-sharing Willingness-to-pay |
author_facet |
Jason Thistlethwaite Daniel Henstra Craig Brown Daniel Scott |
author_sort |
Jason Thistlethwaite |
title |
Barriers to Insurance as a Flood Risk Management Tool: Evidence from a Survey of Property Owners |
title_short |
Barriers to Insurance as a Flood Risk Management Tool: Evidence from a Survey of Property Owners |
title_full |
Barriers to Insurance as a Flood Risk Management Tool: Evidence from a Survey of Property Owners |
title_fullStr |
Barriers to Insurance as a Flood Risk Management Tool: Evidence from a Survey of Property Owners |
title_full_unstemmed |
Barriers to Insurance as a Flood Risk Management Tool: Evidence from a Survey of Property Owners |
title_sort |
barriers to insurance as a flood risk management tool: evidence from a survey of property owners |
publisher |
SpringerOpen |
series |
International Journal of Disaster Risk Science |
issn |
2095-0055 2192-6395 |
publishDate |
2020-05-01 |
description |
Abstract By using risk-adjusted price signals to transfer responsibility for property-level flood protection and recovery from governments to property owners, flood insurance represents a key tenet of the flood risk management (FRM) paradigm. The Government of Canada has worked with insurers to introduce flood insurance for the first time as a part of a broader shift towards FRM to limit the growing costs of flooding. The viability of flood insurance in Canada, however, has been questioned by research that disputes the utility of purchasing coverage by property owners. This study tested this assumption by drawing on public opinion survey data to assess factors that influence decisions about the utility of insurance. The findings reveal that Canadians have limited knowledge of flood insurance coverage, exhibit a low willingness-to-pay for both insurance and property-level flood protection measures, and expect governments to shoulder much of the financial burden of flood recovery through disaster assistance. |
topic |
Flood insurance Flood risk management Risk-sharing Willingness-to-pay |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-020-00272-z |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT jasonthistlethwaite barrierstoinsuranceasafloodriskmanagementtoolevidencefromasurveyofpropertyowners AT danielhenstra barrierstoinsuranceasafloodriskmanagementtoolevidencefromasurveyofpropertyowners AT craigbrown barrierstoinsuranceasafloodriskmanagementtoolevidencefromasurveyofpropertyowners AT danielscott barrierstoinsuranceasafloodriskmanagementtoolevidencefromasurveyofpropertyowners |
_version_ |
1721454510347386880 |