Essays on the Economics of Environmental and Health Risk
Name
ostriker-ostriker-phd-econ-2023-thesis.pdf
Description
Thesis PDF
Size
11.95 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
1c281437d719258cc051273f6008c3da
Author(s)
Ostriker, Abigail J.H.
Advisor(s)
Finkelstein, Amy
Balboni, Clare
Date Issued
June 2023
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Individuals face many types of risk, including to their property, finances, and health. In this thesis, I study a variety of strategies for mitigating those risks, in the context of health shocks and natural disasters. In the health context, risk of disease onset is mitigated in some cases with screening programs, with governments recommending an age to begin screening. In the environmental context, risk of physical destruction is mitigated with property insurance, which can be purchased from the federal government (for floods) or private insurers (for wildfires). In the first two essays, I study the effectiveness of government policies recommending screening ages and regulating floodplain development via rules embedded in the National Flood Insurance Program. In the third essay, I investigate how higher property insurance prices affect housing markets. All three essays highlight the importance of government policies and insurance products for mitigating personal risk.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics
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