Environmental Economics

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Category: Natural Hazards

  • Actually, higher insurance premiums was not an unintended consequence

    While their magnitude and the backlash may have been a surprise, the cost increases are what was intended. But why should it have been a surprise? Removing subsidies is never popular: A major flood insurance bill was a rarity when it passed what is widely derided as a do-nothing Congress in 2012, but a year…

  • Daily Demand and Supply: Another Price Gouging Rant

    Time to once again address a topic I like to rant about: price gouging.  Two days ago, New York Attorney General  Eric Schneiderman posted the following letter/warning to businesses in New York. 

  • I’ve always thought trailers were better beach homes than cottages (or mansions)

    Wasn't flood insurance reform intended to raise rates? With the National Flood Insurance Program running a $24 billion deficit after huge payouts from Hurricanes Katrina in 2005 and Sandy in 2012, Congress in 2012 ordered radical changes to make premiums more closely reflect the true risk of damage for Americans who own insured property in…

  • A cautionary example of why policies (good or bad) are difficult to remove once implemented

    The new flood insurance rules, which went into effect on Oct. 1, are intended to make the deeply indebted NFIP solvent by no longer charging government-subsidized rates on homes in flood-prone areas. The hikes will affect about 20 percent of the 5.5 million people who have NFIP policies around the country, as well as thousands…

  • Oh Sandy the aurora is rising behind us*

    The ugly reality of Coasian bargaining: With the anniversary of superstorm Sandy just a month away and the still-battered remains of homes visible on the beachfront, Gov. Chris Christie ordered the state to start legal action against holdout homeowners to get the dunes built. Help is on the way for oceanfront municipalities in their ongoing…

  • If only we could figure out a way to value dolphins

    Warning, blatant self-and-John-promotion ahead. So I was reading this CNN story this morning about the recent increase in bottlenose dolphin deaths on the east coast. The carcasses of dozens of the marine mammals, seven times more than normal, have been washing up on beaches this summer, and scientists are struggling for answers to the die-off.…

  • I’m ready for the sequel…Snakicane

    I have no idea how I missed this last night.  But I guarantee I’m setting my DVR for a rerun:  

  • Economics of Natural Hazards on public spending for safe rooms at schools

    More Kevin Simmons: The Dallas Morning News ran an op-ed I wrote about where to spend tornado safety funds. The most tragic element of last week’s tornado in Moore was that an EF-5 tornado, an extremely rare event, hit two elementary schools with full force.  Few structures are designed for that type of stress but…

  • Economics of Natural Hazards on the Moore, OK Tornado

    Kevin Simmons: I was interviewed on Bloomberg Friday.  The video link is here.  One of the questions was about saferooms and given the horrible tornado in Moore last week it is an important topic.  I live in North Texas and have seen my share of tornadoes.  Surviving one depends on many factors but the most…

  • “Cuomo Seeking Home Buyouts in Flood Zones”

    NY Times: Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is proposing to spend as much as $400 million to purchase homes wrecked by Hurricane Sandy, have them demolished and then preserve the flood-prone land permanently, as undeveloped coastline. … For the 10,000 or so homes in the 100-year flood plain that were substantially damaged by Hurricane Sandy, Mr.…