How much of the historical 7%/year equity premium could have been risk compensation for disasters that just happened not to have occurred? The answer can be found in below-the-money put prices which would have protected against them. A premium beyond 2%/year (for rolling one-month-ahead...

Local governments face threats from natural and man-made disasters, but tightening budgets create difficulty in developing the resource and information capacity to meet these challenges. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the federal government provided a variety of grants for equipment and...