We examine the ability of insurers to influence the coverage limit decisions of 180,000 households in the National Flood Insurance Program. In this program, private insurers sell identical flood contracts at identical rates and bear no risk of paying claims. About 12% of new policyholders...

We examine small business financing outcomes approximately one year after Hurricane Harvey. Our data include the credit reports of 8,219 businesses and a detailed survey of 273 businesses in the affected area. We find that Harvey-related flooding increased credit delinquencies, especially...

Financial intermediaries [FIs] in developing and emerging economies are poorly equipped to manage natural disasters. These events create losses for FIs, eroding capital reserves and compromising their ability to lend. Portfolio-level insurance against disasters can improve FI management of these...

This paper considers lender-level index insurance as a means of expanding access to credit in disaster-prone communities. In this approach, the lender transfers the disaster risk of loans in its portfolio by contracting on an observable measure of the catastrophe. I develop and calibrate a...

We examine the flood insurance decisions of over 100,000 households, using standard expected utility models and rank dependent utility models that incorporate probability distortions. Consumers' insurance choices provide important insights into their risk attitudes. Previous research has...

We examine businesses' financial management of a rare, severe event using detailed firm-level data collected following Hurricane Sandy in the New York area. Credit played a prominent role in financing recovery; more negatively affected firms took on debt because of Sandy (38%) than received...