Thursday 03 April 2025 13:45 - 15:00

MAR 6.33, 6th floor, The Marshall Building, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LY

About this event

In the past two decades, about half of the new homes in the United States were built in areas at risk of natural hazards. Why is new residential development being exposed to such risk? I posit that land-use regulations restricting development in safer areas, along with frictions in property insurance markets, contribute to this pattern. I study this question in the context of exposure to wildfire risk in the metropolitan area of San Diego, California, where areas unexposed to risk are highly regulated and built out, and insurance regulations prevent premiums from accurately pricing the risk of property damage. I estimate a quantitative urban model using detailed spatial data on zoning, building restrictions, wildfire risk, and insurance. In the model, the regulations reallocate the population to unregulated at-risk areas. Through simulations, I demonstrate how these effects depend on the estimated disamenities from wildfire risk, insurance access, and the spatial correlations between regulations, wildfire risk, and location amenities.

Participants are expected to adhere to the CEP Events Code of Conduct.

Directions

This event will take place in MAR 6.33, 6th floor, The Marshall Building, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LY.

This series is part of the CEP's Growth programme.