Flood Risk Mapping and the Distributional Impacts of Climate Information

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Weill, Joakim A.
• 署名单位: Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve System Board of Governors
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20230552
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: natural disasters; waste sites; insurance; ECONOMICS; rainfall

摘要

This paper examines the provision of official flood risk information in the United States and its distributional impacts on residential flood insurance take-up. Assembling all flood maps produced after Hurricane Katrina, I document that updated maps decreased the number of properties zoned in high-risk floodplains and incorrectly omitted five million properties, primarily in neighborhoods with more Black and Hispanic residents. Leveraging the staggered timing of map updates, I estimate that updated maps decreased flood insurance take-up and exacerbated racial disparities in insurance coverage. While past map updates distorted risk and price signals, correcting flood maps would yield substantial welfare gains. (JEL D83, G22, G52, J15, Q54)