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Does Governmental Assistance Affect Private Decisions to Insure? An Empirical Analysis of Flood Insurance Purchases

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  • Meri Davlasheridze
  • Qing Miao

Abstract

In this paper, we empirically examine whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Public Assistance (PA) program, which targets postdisaster cleanup and infrastructure rehabilitation, affects household purchases of flood insurance. Using the fixed-effects model with instrumental variables to address the endogeneity of disaster aid, we find that increased PA grants reduce a county’s flood insurance take-up rates, thereby driving down its total insurance coverage and premiums paid. Our findings provide empirical evidence on the crowding-out effect of public disaster programs, and shed light on their implicit social costs and increased federal financial exposure to natural disasters and climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • Meri Davlasheridze & Qing Miao, 2019. "Does Governmental Assistance Affect Private Decisions to Insure? An Empirical Analysis of Flood Insurance Purchases," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 95(1), pages 124-145.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:landec:v:95:y:2019:i:1:p:124-145
    Note: DOI: 10.3368/le.95.1.124
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Craig Landry & Dylan Turner, 2020. "Risk Perceptions and Flood Insurance: Insights from Homeowners on the Georgia Coast," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-22, December.
    2. Fluhrer, Svenja, 2023. "Crowding-in or crowding-out: The effect of humanitarian aid on households’ investments in climate adaptation," MPRA Paper 117975, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Daniel Osberghaus & Christian Groß & Gert G. Wagner & Frank Offermann & Christoph Duden & Jonas Schmitt & Michael Berlemann & Jörg Asmussen & Markus Roth & Lamia Messari-Becker & Nicola Garbarino & Ben, 2021. "Extremwetterereignisse: Staatshilfe oder private Vorsorge – wer trägt die Kosten?," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 74(11), pages 03-28, November.
    4. Osberghaus, Daniel & Reif, Christiane, 2021. "How do different compensation schemes and loss experience affect insurance decisions? Experimental evidence from two independent and heterogeneous samples," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    5. Champ, Patricia A. & Meldrum, James R. & Brenkert-Smith, Hannah & Warziniack, Travis W. & Barth, Christopher M. & Falk, Lilia C. & Gomez, Jamie B., 2020. "Do actions speak louder than words? Comparing the effect of risk aversion on objective and self-reported mitigation measures," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 301-313.
    6. Craig E. Landry & Dylan Turner & Daniel Petrolia, 2021. "Flood Insurance Market Penetration and Expectations of Disaster Assistance," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 79(2), pages 357-386, June.
    7. Stefan Borsky & Hannah Hennighausen, 2022. "Public Flood Risk Mitigation and the Homeowner’s Insurance Demand Response," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 98(4), pages 537-559.
    8. Tesselaar, Max & Botzen, W.J. Wouter & Robinson, Peter J. & Aerts, Jeroen C.J.H. & Zhou, Fujin, 2022. "Charity hazard and the flood insurance protection gap: An EU scale assessment under climate change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    9. Meri Davlasheridze & Qing Miao, 2021. "Natural disasters, public housing, and the role of disaster aid," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(5), pages 1113-1135, November.
    10. Emily Fucile-Sanchez & Meri Davlasheridze, 2020. "Adjustments of Socially Vulnerable Populations in Galveston County, Texas USA Following Hurricane Ike," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-23, August.
    11. Welsch, David M. & Winden, Matthew W. & Zimmer, David M., 2022. "The effect of flood mitigation spending on flood damage: Accounting for dynamic feedback," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    12. Tatjana Dahlhaus & Thibaut Duprey & Craig Johnston, 2025. "Estimating the impacts on GDP of natural disasters in Canada," Staff Analytical Notes 2025-5, Bank of Canada.
    13. Liu, Xian & Noonan, Douglas, 2022. "Building underwater: Effects of community-scale flood management on housing development," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    14. Meri Davlasheridze & Qing Miao, 2021. "Does post-disaster aid promote community resilience? Evidence from federal disaster programs," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 109(1), pages 63-88, October.
    15. Dylan Turner & Francis Tsiboe, 2022. "The crop insurance demand response to the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(3), pages 1273-1292, September.
    16. Dimuthu Ratnadiwakara & Buvaneshwaran Venugopal, 2023. "Climate risk perceptions and demand for flood insurance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 52(2), pages 297-331, June.
    17. Georgic, Will & Klaiber, H. Allen, 2022. "Stocks, flows, and flood insurance: A nationwide analysis of the capitalized impact of annual premium discounts on housing values," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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