The vast majority of homes and small commercial buildings that are insured against flood damage in the U.S. are covered by the Nat. Flood Insur. Program (NFIP). Although the flood insurance (FI) program had been largely self-sustaining in the past, it had to borrow $17 billion from the federal Treasury to pay claims after the catastrophic hurricanes of 2005. That borrowing has highlighted questions about the program¿s financial health, including the actuarial soundness of the premium rates charged on policies that are not explicitly subsidized and the cost of paying claims for properties that have suffered multiple flood losses. This report explains how NFIP sets ¿full-risk¿ premium rates for the FI program. Charts and tables.

This book examines the behavior of individuals at risk and insurance industry policy makers involved in selling, buying and regulation.

Innovative, long-term strategies for reducing vulnerability to large-scale natural disasters and for providing financial support for disaster victims. The United States and other nations are facing large-scale risks at an accelerating rhythm. In 2005, three major hurricanes—Katrina, Rita, and Wilma—made landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast within a six-week period. The damage caused by these storms led to insurance reimbursements and federal disaster relief of more than $180 billion—a record sum. Today we are more vulnerable to catastrophic losses because of the increasing concentration of population and activities in high-risk coastal regions of the country. The question is not whether but when, and how frequently, future catastrophes will strike and the extent of damages they will cause. Who should pay the costs associated with catastrophic losses suffered by homeowners in hazard-prone areas? In At War with the Weather, Howard Kunreuther and Erwann Michel-Kerjan with their colleagues deliver a groundbreaking analysis of how we currently mitigate, insure against, and finance recovery from natural disasters in the United States. They offer innovative, long-term solutions for reducing losses and providing financial support for disaster victims that define a coherent strategy to assure sustainable recovery from future large-scale disasters. The amount of data collected and analyzed and innovations proposed make this the most comprehensive book written on these critical issues in the past thirty years.

Prepared by the Interagency Task Force on Floodplain Management. Includes National Flood Insurance Program.

The mathematical theory of non-life insurance developed much later than the theory of life insurance. The problems that occur in the former field are far more intricate for several reasons: 1. In the field oflife insurance, the company usually has to pay a claim on the policy only once: the insured dies or the policy matures only once. It is with only a few particular types of policy (for instance, sickness insurance, when the insured starts working again after a period of sickness) that a valid claim can be made on a number of different occasions. On the other hand, the general rule in non-life insurance is that the policyholder is liable to be the victim of several losses (in automobile insurance, of course, but also in burglary and fire insurance, householders' comprehensive insurance, and so on). 2. In the field of life insurance, the amount to be paid by the company excluding any bonuses-is determined at the inception of the policy. For the various types of life insurance contracts, the sum payable on death or at maturity of the policy is known in advance. In the field of non-life insurance, the amount of a loss is a random variable: the cost of an automobile crash, the partial or totalloss of a building as a result of fire, the number and nature of injuries, and so forth.