Natural disasters as the end of the insurance industry? Scalar competitive strategies, Alternative Risk Transfers, and the economic crisis

Sturm, Tristan; Oh, Eric

doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2009.09.010

Cited by 30 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Natural disasters may be categorised into five main subgroups: geophysical (e.g., earthquakes), meteorological disasters (e.g., storms), hydrological disasters (e.g., floods), climatological disasters (e.g., droughts) and biological disasters (e.g., insect infestations) (Strum and Oh 2009). Statistics show that over the last century the number of natural disasters have increased.…”

Section: Natural Disastersmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The European Insurance Industry: A PEST Analysis

Barbara¹,

Cortis

Perotti

et al. 2017

IJFS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Natural Disastersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Statistics show that over the last century the number of natural disasters have increased. Although the worldwide share of natural disasters cost is low in Europe, (Strum and Oh 2009), some European undertakings may be insuring risks based elsewhere.…”

Section: Natural Disastersmentioning

confidence: 99%

The European Insurance Industry: A PEST Analysis

Barbara¹,

Cortis

Perotti

et al. 2017

IJFS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…for the practical functioning of catastrophe financing." Sturm and Oh (2010) have taken an explicitly geographic perspective, arguing that catastrophe bonds allow reinsurers to solve the problem of ever-growing catastrophic losses through "scaled and networked recovery schemes" that displace and spread risk. Similarly, Jagers et al (2005) have suggested that insurance-linked securities are strategic forms of privatized environmental governance that are "becoming a dominant response" and "exit option" for insurers who are seeking to manage the risks of climate change, allowing the industry to displace the costs of climate impacts into the broader capital markets.…”

Section: Ils As Escape From Place? Risk Insurance and Financializationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite their rapid growth, relatively limited critical scholarly attention has been paid to insurance‐linked securities (Bougen ; Jagers, Paterson, and Stripple ; Randalls ; Sturm and Oh ). Most of this work has focused on insurers’ and reinsurers’ efforts to displace risk into capital markets, framing them within ongoing discussions of Ulrich Beck's (, ) famous postindustrial “risk society” in which modernity's technological developments become the source of catastrophic risks that exceed the boundaries of calculability and control.…”

Section: Introducing Insurance‐linked Securitization To the Geographimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A significant debate has followed over the theoretical and empirical validity of Beck's uninsurability thesis, highlighting numerous techniques by which new and seemingly “incalculable” risks are being rendered insurable and governable (Ericson and Doyle ; O'Malley ; Collier ). It is within this context that Bougen (, 255) has asked whether catastrophe bonds may signal the emergence of a risk network with “the necessary degrees of coherence between institutions and technologies … for the practical functioning of catastrophe financing.” Sturm and Oh () have taken an explicitly geographic perspective, arguing that catastrophe bonds allow reinsurers to solve the problem of ever‐growing catastrophic losses through “scaled and networked recovery schemes” that displace and spread risk. Similarly, Jagers et al.…”

Section: Introducing Insurance‐linked Securitization To the Geographimentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Geographies of Securitized Catastrophe Risk and the Implications of Climate Change

Johnson

2014

Economic Geography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article analyzes the drivers and implications of catastrophe bonds’ growing popularity as an alternative asset class. As investor demand for bonds outpaces their supply from reinsurers, the study asks how the place‐based physical vulnerabilities of fixed capital have been rendered into assets deemed increasingly desirable by growing blocks of financial capital. Combining data from extended interviews with industry datasets and market reports, the study demonstrates how this securitization pathway allows mobile capital on a search for yield to reframe spatial liabilities as tradable assets, thus accessing new “returns on place.” By aggregating and analyzing data on approximately $37 billion in catastrophe bond transactions since 1997, the study reveals both the ongoing concentration of capital in so‐called “peak perils” such as U.S. hurricane and earthquake risks, and the fragmentation and recombination of peak perils to create new risk/return profiles. These purposive, scalable, and selective financial engagements with catastrophic risks depend upon the avoidance of the fixed costs and relational entanglements borne by (re)insurers. This ambivalent relationship with geographical liabilities is reaching its logical apogee in recent proposals to expand the catastrophe bond market to capitalize on growing climate change risks. This movement to “underwrite to securitize” intentionally emulates the “originate to securitize” model pioneered in mortgage‐backed securities. This study argues that such developments could ultimately yield a built environment that is both more dependent on the state as an insurer of last resort and less adapted to climate extremes.

show abstract

Integrating Adaptation to Climate Change Within Risk Management? The Case of Insurance System Signals and Policy Responses in Hawaii

Starominski-Uehara¹,

Keskitalo²

2014

Risk Hazard & Crisis Pub Pol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climate change is a stress requiring the integration of long-term risks into planning systems at local, regional, and national levels. In policy-making processes, however, climate change competes against other political priorities for funding resulting in the insufficient integration of long-term risks into adaptation strategies. This study reviews the development of policies in relation to insurance programs relevant to climate change-related risks in Hawaii and its county Kauai. The study shows that the integration of climate change adaptation into policy-making processes at different administrative levels is limited by limited disclosure and competing priorities, affecting insurance coverage and resulting in the increase of exposure of local communities to climate changerelated risks.

show abstract

Natural disasters as the end of the insurance industry? Scalar competitive strategies, Alternative Risk Transfers, and the economic crisis

Cited by 30 publications

References 45 publications

The European Insurance Industry: A PEST Analysis

The European Insurance Industry: A PEST Analysis

Geographies of Securitized Catastrophe Risk and the Implications of Climate Change

Integrating Adaptation to Climate Change Within Risk Management? The Case of Insurance System Signals and Policy Responses in Hawaii

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About