Managing Environmental Risk Through Insurance

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

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2. Managing Societal Risks

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Introduction to Part I: Overview of the Problem

      • Paul K. Freeman, Howard Kunreuther

      Pages 3-6

   3. Managing Risk Through Government Benefit Programs

      • Paul K. Freeman, Howard Kunreuther

      Pages 7-10

   4. Managing Risk Through the Legal System

      • Paul K. Freeman, Howard Kunreuther

      Pages 11-20

   5. Managing Risk through Insurance

      • Paul K. Freeman, Howard Kunreuther

      Pages 21-30

3. Managing Environmental Risks

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 31-31

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   2. Introduction to Part II: Insuring Environmental Risks

      • Paul K. Freeman, Howard Kunreuther

      Pages 33-35

   3. The Insurability and Marketability of Risk

      • Paul K. Freeman, Howard Kunreuther

      Pages 37-53

   4. Insuring Asbestos Risk: Background and Identification of Risk

      • Paul K. Freeman, Howard Kunreuther

      Pages 55-62

   5. Insuring Asbestos Risk: Insurability and Marketability Conditions

      • Paul K. Freeman, Howard Kunreuther

      Pages 63-73

   6. Insuring Other Types of Environmental Risk

      • Paul K. Freeman, Howard Kunreuther

      Pages 75-96

   7. Summary and Conclusions

      • Paul K. Freeman, Howard Kunreuther

      Pages 97-103

4. Back Matter

   Pages 105-107

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Can insurance be used as a means to obtain compliance with environmental policy? Answering this question requires examination of a broad mosaic of academic issues, including current systems available for providing compensation and deterrence, use of contracts (including insurance) as substitutes for tort law, limitations of regulatory policy-making by government agencies, pre-conditions for creation of insurance products, and market mechanisms necessary for insurance to be purchased or sold. The purpose of Managing Environmental Risk Through Insurance is to highlight the potential role that insurance and performance standards can play in managing environmental risk. Insurance can play a significant role in dealing with one of the most problematic issues facing society today - how to compensate for environmental exposures.
This book analyzes the ability of insurance to play a role in managing environmental risk. It begins by outlining the role insurance plays in society in contrast to other societal tools for addressing risk: government benefit programs and imposition of involuntary liability using the court system. By so doing, the book describes the comparative advantages of insurance. The book then analyzes the insurability of the risks. Finally, the book applies the insurability analysis to three concrete environmental examples.

• compliance
• environment
• environmental policy
• research

`...this is an extremely timely book whose message deserves serious attention by policy makers and politicians.'
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 41:5 (1998)

• Eric Group, Inc., USA

  Paul K. Freeman

• University of Pennsylvania, USA

  Howard Kunreuther

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