Essays on the Economics of Environmental and Health Risk

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.