Innovation in risk transfer for natural hazards impacting agriculture

Agricultural income from growing crops is susceptible to a variety of risks—the price of output and the actual amount of output are generally the largest risk variables. This article focuses on yield risk rather than price risk by reviewing innovation in risk transfer for natural hazard risk in agriculture. While many higher-income countries have long-standing crop insurance programs, these programs are not appropriate for lower-income countries. Lower-income countries can ill-afford the subsidies that are used in most multiple peril crop insurance programs throughout the world. Still, lower-income countries have large numbers of small farms increasing the need for agricultural insurance to protect against common problems that create disastrous losses for many individual farm households.     

Earthquake insurance pricing: a risk‐based approach

Flat earthquake premiums are ‘uniformly’ set for a variety of buildings in many countries, neglecting the fact that the risk of damage to buildings by earthquakes is based on a wide range of factors. How these factors influence the insurance premiums is worth being studied further. Proposed herein is a risk‐based approach to estimate the earthquake insurance rates of buildings. Examples of application of the approach to buildings located in Taipei city of Taiwan were examined. Then, the earthquake insurance rates for the buildings investigated were calculated and tabulated. To fulfil insurance rating, the buildings were classified into 15 model building types according to their construction materials and building height. Seismic design levels were also considered in insurance rating in response to the effect of seismic zone and construction years of buildings. This paper may be of interest to insurers, actuaries, and private and public sectors of insurance.     

巨灾保险衍生品

巨灾保险衍生品将巨灾风险引入资本市场，扩大了巨灾保险的融资渠道，增加了保险市场的承保能力，已经成为巨灾保险的重要补充手段之一。系统总结了巨灾保险衍生品的发展过程，介绍了几种较常见的巨灾保险衍生品。由于我国巨灾保险正处于探索阶段，建议借鉴发达国家和地区的巨灾风险管理经验，将巨灾保险衍生品作为补充手段，推动我国巨灾保险的发展。     

基于农户视角的政策性种植业保险调研报告——以湖南省566户调查数据为例

基于566户调研数据,对湖南省开展的政策性种植业保险做了深入分析,以期对农业保险的开展和相关政策实施提供有益的参考。调查结果显示:水稻和棉花保险保障程度有限,低于基本物化成本;对相关政策的不理解以及担心得不到赔偿是限制农户购买农业保险的主要原因;农户愿意支付的水稻与棉花的保险费率平均在2.6%～3.0%。建议加强农村基础设施建设,提高农业生产设防水平;结合农民需求和支付意愿,设计合理丰富的保险产品;增加农民收入,加强保险知识教育;加大农业保险宣传,保证基层政府和保险公司良好的公信度。     

Willingness to pay for agricultural flood insurance in the Mekong River Delta

Increasing urbanization and industrial development upstream of the Mekong River Delta of Vietnam (MRD) including the construction of a series of dams for hydroelectricity generation is changing the downstream risk of flooding. Concerns about the likely influence of global climate change and rising sea levels add further uncertainty to this risk that threatens the livelihood of farmers. With this in mind and in view of the under-developed state of the market for crop insurance in the MRD, we survey rice growers to explore their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for crop insurance by using a choice experiment. The experimental design comprised five attributes, including the type of peril covered – riverine flooding (flooding); flooding triggered by tidal regimes (inundation); or flooding, inundation and wind damage – type of provider; extent of cover and deductible and premium. Two hundred and twenty-six rice-growing farmers were surveyed with each farmer responding to six different choices. Our study shows that WTPs for an insurance plan covering a loss up to 2 million VND/1000m²/farming season and having a deductible of 25% of the potential (profit) crop value varied between 200,000 and 500,000?VND/1000m² (1USD?=?22,550 Vietnamese Dong – VND) for each rice growing season, implying a potential market for crop insurance.     

Application of catastrophe loss modelling to promote property insurance in developing countries

Many mega cities in developing countries are exposed to the sources of natural catastrophes, particularly seismic activity. A high level of seismic hazard in some of these places, coupled with a relatively high degree of vulnerability within the built environment, can result in dire human and economic consequences. This paper contains examples of such potentially disruptive factors in relation to Tehran, Iran. It presents preliminary seismic loss estimates for residential buildings in a pilot area of northern Tehran. The paper briefly investigates the effectiveness of risk management measures and loss compensation mechanisms before assessing the feasibility of an insurance‐based risk transfer instrument for managing potential seismic losses among residential buildings in Tehran. It goes on to suggest how probabilistic catastrophe loss modelling can help local insurers to manage their portfolios and facilitate risk sharing among insurance companies and households. Finally, the paper addresses the question of how catastrophe loss modelling can help to strengthen the penetration of property insurance in developing countries.     

内蒙古雪灾保险费率的厘定——基于自然灾害系统理论的研究

中国巨灾保险赔款占直接经济损失的比率比国际平均水平低的多,2008年初南方雨雪冰冻灾害和"5.12"汶川地震两次巨灾过后,国家加紧推进巨灾保险体系的建立。其中,巨灾保险费率厘定是基础。基于自然灾害系统理论,构建了以危险性曲线和脆弱性曲线为核心的巨灾风险保险费率厘定方法体系,改进了以往农业保险仅从致灾因子角度厘定费率的片面性。最后,借鉴美国洪水保险、日本地震保险以灾种为对象(而非承灾体种类为对象)构建巨灾保险体系的优势,以雪灾保险为例,厘定了内蒙古12盟市雪灾保险费率。结果显示,位于中部地区的锡林郭勒盟雪灾保险费率最高,为3.10%;位于西部地区的阿拉善盟、乌海市雪灾保险费率最低,为1.09%。     

Exploring the feasibility of private micro flood insurance provision in Bangladesh

This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the feasibility of the provision of micro flood insurance as an effective tool for spreading disaster risks in developing countries and examines the role of the institutional-organisational framework in assisting the design and implementation of such a micro flood insurance market. In Bangladesh, a private insurance market for property damage and livelihood risk due to natural disasters does not exist. Private insurance companies are reluctant to embark on an evidently unprofitable venture. Testing two different institutional-organisational models, this research reveals that the administration costs of micro-insurance play an important part in determining the long-term viability of micro flood insurance schemes. A government-facilitated process to overcome the differences observed in this study between the nonprofit micro-credit providers and profit-oriented private insurance companies is needed, building on the particular competence each party brings to the development of a viable micro flood insurance market through a public-private partnership.     

Insurance and flood risk reduction in Ghana: do insurers penalise homeowners who take precautionary measures?

Today, many advocate insurance as a tool for coping with natural disasters. Beyond providing prompt financial relief to victims of disasters, insurance can also incentivise individuals to invest in preventive measures if insurers reward such efforts with reduced premiums. However, insurers might be unable to reward investments in precautionary measures with lower premiums if they are ill-informed about individual-level risks. Here, we explore how Ghanaian home insurers respond to investments in flood risk reduction by asking them to quote premiums for four identical buildings; two had investments in flood risk reduction, while the other two had none. We find that insurers did not reward investments in risk reduction, with some charging higher premiums for elevated buildings, suggesting they have interpreted such preventive measures as a sign of high flood risk. This failure to reward investments in precautionary measures may discourage insured homeowners from investing in risk reduction.     

海洋石油分散风险成本和效益的经济分析

海洋石油开采是高风险经济活动之一,采取多种分散风险措施,保证经济活动的持续性和稳定性是海洋石油勘探和开采中的重要问题。在海洋石油采取的各种减灾行为中,首先采取的应该是预防措施,为此要科学分析投入产出,以使减灾投入获得最佳的经济效益。减灾效益最大化的条件是减灾投入的边际成本等于边际收益。对于减灾边际成本高于边际收益的减灾措施,应采取以保险为主要内容的转移风险措施,在参加商业保险和自我保险两种可选择方式中,对海洋石油行业而言,自我保险投入产出效益更高。     

An analysis of seismic risk from a tourism point of view

Global awareness of natural calamities increased after the destructive Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, largely because many foreigners lost their lives, especially in Thailand. This paper explores how best to communicate the seismic risk posed by different travel destinations to crisis management personnel in tourists' home countries. The analysis of seismic risk should be straightforward enough for non-specialists, yet powerful enough to identify the travel destinations that are most at risk. The output for each location is a point in 3D space composed of the natural and built-up environment and local tourism. The tourism-specific factors can be tailored according to the tourists' nationality. The necessary information can be collected from various directories and statistics, much of it available over the Internet. The output helps to illustrate the overall seismic risk conditions of different travel destinations, allows for comparison across destinations, and identifies the places that are most at risk.     

以保险为重要内容的我国巨灾风险管理体系探讨

我国是世界上自然灾害最严重的国家之一。如何对巨灾风险进行有效的管理是世界范围内的难题和重大的问题,也是各国政府面临的严峻挑战。在讨论了国内外巨灾风险管理体系的基础上,探讨了建立以保险为重要内容的我国巨灾风险管理体系的重要性和举措。     

Financial services and disaster risk finance: Examples from the community level

Increased attention has recently been given to the possible role of financial services in the management of natural disaster risk. Local communities have been at the forefront of developing innovative disaster risk finance strategies and implementing risk-oriented incentive programs. In view of increasing risks, including the impacts of climate change, such programs will become more important. This paper examines four models and some recent experiences in using financial services at the community level. The paper offers an overview of advantages and limitations of each model to manage disaster risk in communities. Examples include a federal government initiated scheme of social protection funds, a local government risk reduction scheme, an insurance product provided by a non-governmental organization , and a micro-insurance scheme. Finally, the paper offers some directions about specific ways that the public and private sectors, in collaboration with other partners can improve finance alternatives for disaster management at the community level. It appears that a range of follow-up studies and further dialogue is needed, in order to expand the knowledge on what types of risk finance models can help manage and reduce the financial impacts of natural disasters.     

Financial services and disaster risk finance: Examples from the community level

Increased attention has recently been given to the possible role of financial services in the management of natural disaster risk. Local communities have been at the forefront of developing innovative disaster risk finance strategies and implementing risk-oriented incentive programs. In view of increasing risks, including the impacts of climate change, such programs will become more important. This paper examines four models and some recent experiences in using financial services at the community level. The paper offers an overview of advantages and limitations of each model to manage disaster risk in communities. Examples include a federal government initiated scheme of social protection funds, a local government risk reduction scheme, an insurance product provided by a non-governmental organization, and a micro-insurance scheme. Finally, the paper offers some directions about specific ways that the public and private sectors, in collaboration with other partners can improve finance alternatives for disaster management at the community level. It appears that a range of follow-up studies and further dialogue is needed, in order to expand the knowledge on what types of risk finance models can help manage and reduce the financial impacts of natural disasters.     

引入火灾保险后消防投资经济性的评价模型

在西方发达国家,业主为减轻火灾发生后的实际损失,在火灾发生之前会主动采取火灾风险管理措施,而火灾保险是其中的重要部分,这也是我国今后火灾风险管理的发展方向之一. 通过购买火灾保险,业主将火灾损失的一部分或全部转移到保险公司,但业主需每年向保险公司交纳一定数额的保险费.购买火灾保险之后,消防投资经济性的评价模型会发生一些改变.本文基于经济性学的基本理论和方法,对这些新模型进行了较为全面的研究,为投资者做出科学合理的决策提供指导和帮助.     

基于工程地震风险评估的地震保险费率厘定

着重探讨了如何将我国许多城市已完成的工程地震风险评估结果用于厘定地震保险费率,具体提出了地震房屋保险、地震室内财产保险和地震人身保险费率的厘定方法,对应不同的免赔率定义提出了赔偿金额的计算方法.为了说明所提方法的实用性,以某地的多层砌体房屋为例,对设计的几种免赔率,计算了相应的费率.     

陕西省灾害保险赔案分析及防灾减灾

一般情况下,保险公司的赔案情况可以大体反映该区的灾害发生情况,本文通过对陕西省１９８５～１９９８年间的企业财产险、家庭财产险、机动车辆险、农业种植险等四个保险险种的赔案数据整理,并在对赔案状况、不同险种的 损失率与赔付率、赔案出险原因以及保险险种的赔案出险原因等进行分析、研究的基础上提出了今后的防灾减灾重点。     

当前我国巨灾经济损失补偿机制的探讨

我国是世界上遭受自然灾害最严重的国家之一,自然灾害每年都给我国财政与保险业带来巨大的压力,财政补偿和保险补偿能力不足的弊端已经显现。因此,积极探寻新的巨灾损失补偿机制已经成为我国经济发展的迫切要求。首先对我国目前自然灾害所造成的经济损失情况进行了介绍;以地震和洪水为例,对灾情进行了论述;对我国当前主要采用的巨灾损失补偿机制存在的问题进行了讨论,并对巨灾风险证券化的优势作用以及在我国的实施提出了一些观点与建议。     

Disaster safety nets for developing countries: Extending public—private partnerships

In developed countries, public—private partnerships involving insurance companies and governments often provide security against the human and economic losses of disasters. These partnerships, however, are neither available nor affordable in most highly exposed developing countries. In this paper we examine recent innovations in financial risk management that extend traditional public—private partnerships to include NGOs, international financial institutions and other donors. Importantly, these partnerships provide secure financial arrangements to low-income communities before disasters strike and thus relieve the uncertainty and anxiety of depending on ad hoc post-disaster aid for recovery and even survival. We examine three examples of extended partnerships: the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool; the Andhra Pradesh microinsurance program and an index-based weather derivative for farmers facing drought in Malawi.