IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v128y2023ics0264999323003280.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Disasters and health insurance: Evidence from Louisiana

Author

Listed:
  • Barnes, Stephen
  • Joshi, Swarup
  • Terrell, Dek

Abstract

Natural disasters can have important impacts on an individual’s decision to purchase insurance. The literature primarily focuses on the impact of natural disasters on the decision to buy flood or property insurance policies that would compensate the policyholder during a similar event. This paper explores the impact of a series of disasters (hurricanes and floods) striking the state of Louisiana in the decision to purchase health insurance. Using the staggered difference-in-differences method, we find that health insurance rates rise for those impacted by natural disasters. We also find a positive relationship between disaster aid (at the parish level) and health insurance take-up rates. The study confirms the economic theory of risk perception and insurance demand, while also highlighting the role of governance and institutions during crises (such as natural disasters) by providing evidence that fiscal policy disaster relief can have a second-order effect on health insurance take-up rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Barnes, Stephen & Joshi, Swarup & Terrell, Dek, 2023. "Disasters and health insurance: Evidence from Louisiana," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:128:y:2023:i:c:s0264999323003280
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106516
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999323003280
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106516?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benedikte Bjerge & Neda Trifkovic, 2018. "Extreme weather and demand for index insurance in rural India," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 45(3), pages 397-431.
    2. Angus Deaton, 2009. "Instruments of development: Randomization in the tropics, and the search for the elusive keys to economic development," Working Papers 1128, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing..
    3. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    4. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    5. Browne, Mark J & Hoyt, Robert E, 2000. "The Demand for Flood Insurance: Empirical Evidence," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 291-306, May.
    6. Elif S. Filiz, 2022. "Does it Payoff to be Blond in a Non-Blond Neighborhood? Eye Color, Hair Color, Ethnic Composition and Starting Wages," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 122-146, January.
    7. Patricia Born & W. Viscusi, 2006. "The catastrophic effects of natural disasters on insurance markets," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 55-72, September.
    8. Heckman, James J. & Urzúa, Sergio, 2010. "Comparing IV with structural models: What simple IV can and cannot identify," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 156(1), pages 27-37, May.
    9. Stephen Barnes & Dek Terrell, 2009. "The Impact of the Labor Market on Health Insurance," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 328-339, December.
    10. Abouk, Rahi & Courtemanche, Charles & Dave, Dhaval & Feng, Bo & Friedman, Abigail S. & Maclean, Johanna Catherine & Pesko, Michael F. & Sabia, Joseph J. & Safford, Samuel, 2023. "Intended and unintended effects of e-cigarette taxes on youth tobacco use," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    11. Laura E. Grube & Rosemarie Fike & Virgil Henry Storr, 2018. "Navigating Disaster: An Empirical Study of Federal Assistance Following Hurricane Sandy," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 576-593, September.
    12. Kunreuther, Howard, 1996. "Mitigating Disaster Losses through Insurance," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 12(2-3), pages 171-187, May.
    13. Liu, Tsai-Ching & Chen, Chin-Shyan, 2002. "An analysis of private health insurance purchasing decisions with national health insurance in Taiwan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 755-774, September.
    14. Pratt, John W & Zeckhauser, Richard J, 1987. "Proper Risk Aversion," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(1), pages 143-154, January.
    15. Imbens, Guido W & Angrist, Joshua D, 1994. "Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 467-475, March.
    16. Hosoya, Kei, 2019. "Importance of a victim-oriented recovery policy after major disasters," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1-10.
    17. Baryshnikova, Nadezhda V. & Pham, Ngoc T.A., 2019. "Natural disasters and mental health: A quantile approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 62-66.
    18. Adam, Antonis & Tsavou, Evi, 2022. "Do natural disasters fuel terrorism? The role of state capacity," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    19. Tatyana Deryugina, 2017. "The Fiscal Cost of Hurricanes: Disaster Aid versus Social Insurance," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 168-198, August.
    20. Dhaval Dave & Monica Deza & Brady Horn, 2021. "Prescription drug monitoring programs, opioid abuse, and crime," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(3), pages 808-848, January.
    21. Christoph Hambel & Holger Kraft & Lorenz S. Schendel & Mogens Steffensen, 2017. "Life Insurance Demand Under Health Shock Risk," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 84(4), pages 1171-1202, December.
    22. Lo Sasso, Anthony T. & Buchmueller, Thomas C., 2004. "The effect of the state children's health insurance program on health insurance coverage," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 1059-1082, September.
    23. Nick Carroll & Paul Frijters & Michael Shields, 2009. "Quantifying the costs of drought: new evidence from life satisfaction data," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(2), pages 445-461, April.
    24. Guido W. Imbens, 2010. "Better LATE Than Nothing: Some Comments on Deaton (2009) and Heckman and Urzua (2009)," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 399-423, June.
    25. Kimball, Miles S, 1993. "Standard Risk Aversion," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(3), pages 589-611, May.
    26. Cai, Jing & Song, Changcheng, 2017. "Do disaster experience and knowledge affect insurance take-up decisions?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 83-94.
    27. Van de Ven, Wynand P. M. M. & Van Praag, Bernard M. S., 1981. "The demand for deductibles in private health insurance : A probit model with sample selection," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 229-252, November.
    28. Jha, Chandan Kumar & Panda, Bibhudutta & Sahu, Santosh Kumar, 2022. "Institutions and conflict," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    29. Swarup Joshi & Stephen Barnes, 2021. "Impact of a Low-Cost Postsecondary Enrollment Intervention: Evidence from Louisiana," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 16(3), pages 493-515, Summer.
    30. Allison B. Rosen & Jerry S. Tsai & Stephen M. Downs, 2003. "Variations in Risk Attitude across Race, Gender, and Education," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 23(6), pages 511-517, November.
    31. Justin Gallagher & Daniel Hartley & Shawn Rohlin, 2023. "Weathering an Unexpected Financial Shock: The Role of Federal Disaster Assistance on Household Finance and Business Survival," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(2), pages 525-567.
    32. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    33. Amy Finkelstein & Nathaniel Hendren & Mark Shepard, 2019. "Subsidizing Health Insurance for Low-Income Adults: Evidence from Massachusetts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(4), pages 1530-1567, April.
    34. Bos, Jaap W.B. & Li, Runliang & Sanders, Mark W.J.L., 2022. "Hazardous lending: The impact of natural disasters on bank asset portfolio," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    35. repec:pri:rpdevs:instruments_of_development.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cooray, Arusha & Jha, Chandan Kumar & Sarangi, Sudipta, 2024. "Good governance in troubled times: What we know and what experts say," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huber, Martin, 2019. "An introduction to flexible methods for policy evaluation," FSES Working Papers 504, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland.
    2. Shin-Yi Chou & Jin-Tan Liu & James Hammitt, 2006. "Households’ precautionary behaviors—the effects of the introduction of National Health Insurance in Taiwan," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 395-421, December.
    3. Liao, Yanjun (Penny) & Mulder, Philip, 2021. "What's at Stake? Understanding the Role of Home Equity in Flood Insurance Demand," RFF Working Paper Series 21-25, Resources for the Future.
    4. Peter Hull & Michal Kolesár & Christopher Walters, 2022. "Labor by design: contributions of David Card, Joshua Angrist, and Guido Imbens," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(3), pages 603-645, July.
    5. Jha, Chandan Kumar & Joshi, Swarup, 2023. "Municipal bankruptcies and crime," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. John Rust, 2014. "The Limits of Inference with Theory: A Review of Wolpin (2013)," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(3), pages 820-850, September.
    7. Tarek Azzam & Michael Bates & David Fairris, 2019. "Do Learning Communities Increase First Year College Retention? Testing Sample Selection and External Validity of Randomized Control Trials," Working Papers 202002, University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics.
    8. Yuchen Hu & Shuangning Li & Stefan Wager, 2021. "Average Direct and Indirect Causal Effects under Interference," Papers 2104.03802, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    9. Stefanie Behncke, 2012. "Does retirement trigger ill health?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(3), pages 282-300, March.
    10. Armstrong, Christopher & Kepler, John D. & Samuels, Delphine & Taylor, Daniel, 2022. "Causality redux: The evolution of empirical methods in accounting research and the growth of quasi-experiments," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2).
    11. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2021. "Answering causal questions using observational data," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2021-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    12. Huber Martin & Wüthrich Kaspar, 2019. "Local Average and Quantile Treatment Effects Under Endogeneity: A Review," Journal of Econometric Methods, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-27, January.
    13. Breen, Richard & Ermisch, John, 2021. "Instrumental Variable Estimation in Demographic Studies: The LATE interpretation of the IV estimator with heterogenous effects," SocArXiv vx9m7, Center for Open Science.
    14. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2010. "The Credibility Revolution in Empirical Economics: How Better Research Design Is Taking the Con out of Econometrics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(2), pages 3-30, Spring.
    15. Tim Philippi & Jörg Schiller, 2024. "Abandoning disaster relief and stimulating insurance demand through premium subsidies," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 91(2), pages 339-382, June.
    16. Jeffrey Smith & Arthur Sweetman, 2016. "Viewpoint: Estimating the causal effects of policies and programs," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 49(3), pages 871-905, August.
    17. Sho Miyaji, 2024. "Instrumented Difference-in-Differences with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," Papers 2405.12083, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2025.
    18. Cornelissen, Thomas & Dustmann, Christian & Raute, Anna & Schönberg, Uta, 2016. "From LATE to MTE: Alternative methods for the evaluation of policy interventions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 47-60.
    19. Susan Athey & Guido W. Imbens, 2017. "The State of Applied Econometrics: Causality and Policy Evaluation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 3-32, Spring.
    20. Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham & Peter Hull & Michal Kolesár, 2024. "Contamination Bias in Linear Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(12), pages 4015-4051, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health insurance; Crisis; Governance; Risk;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • G41 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making in Financial Markets
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:128:y:2023:i:c:s0264999323003280. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.