scholarly journals The Role of Earthquake Insurance in Earthquake Risk Reduction and Resilience Building

Author(s):  
Fouad Bendimerad

AbstractResilience is defined as “The ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from and more successfully adapt to adverse events” (US National Academies). Resilience has four pillars: • Anticipate: the ability to anticipate and reduce the impact of shocks through preparedness and planning, • Absorb the ability to absorb and cope with the impacts of shocks and stresses. • Adapt: the ability to change in response to multiple, long-term and future risks, and to learn and adjust after a shock materializes. • Transform: the ability to take deliberate steps to change the systems that create risk, vulnerability and or inequality. How does insurance intervene in building resilience? The outcome of insurance is to restore property and livelihoods in case of an adverse effect. It does that by providing a cash infusion into the socio-economic system of the affected communities immediately after the event. The cash is used to restore property and avoid interruption of commercial and industrial activity. Insurance also intervenes in terms of reducing impact of stresses (which are the more extensive types of risk) since it enables a system of “maintenance” by providing funds for recovery under minor but more frequent events. For most developing countries, governments have been the insurer of last resort when it comes to catastrophe risk (referred to as Cat Risk in the insurance industry). The reason is that level of cat insurance penetration in most developing countries is very low, sometimes lower than 1%. The assurance of government intervention coupled with the lack of effectiveness of the financial transaction associated with a traditional insurance policy negate any incentive for individuals to acquire a cat insurance policy. The Turkish Compulsory Insurance Program or TCIP is one of the early experiment to change that paradigm and to provide a meaningful role for cat insurance in emerging economies. After a slow start, TCIP has now developed the financial capacity and the spread of coverage to play a significant role both in the financing of risk but also in supporting earthquake risk reduction in Turkey. New cat insurance products based on parametric indexing have since emerged. These insurance products could further improve the efficiency of TCIP and other cat insurance pools by making them more attractive to individuals, thereby scaling up their contribution to building resilience.

2018 ◽  
pp. 70-84
Author(s):  
Ph. S. Kartaev ◽  
Yu. I. Yakimova

The paper studies the impact of the transition to the inflation targeting regime on the magnitude of the pass-through effect of the exchange rate to prices. We analyze cross-country panel data on developed and developing countries. It is shown that the transition to this regime of monetary policy contributes to a significant reduction in both the short- and long-term pass-through effects. This decline is stronger in developing countries. We identify the main channels that ensure the influence of the monetary policy regime on the pass-through effect, and examine their performance. In addition, we analyze the data of time series for Russia. It was concluded that even there the transition to inflation targeting led to a decrease in the dependence of the level of inflation on fluctuations in the ruble exchange rate.


Author(s):  
Kaustubh Jain

The debate about developing countries having to choose between economic growth and biodiversity protection has been going on for a long time. This paper sought to add to existing literature written on that topic by exploring the relationship between economic growth and biodiversity loss. It argued that in the long term, developing countries need to protect biodiversity as a prerequisite for economic growth to occur and that the severe impact of biodiversity loss on vulnerable indigenous communities is a reason enough to make the protection of biodiversity a priority. The researcher first identified the primary reasons for why biodiversity occurs, then advocated for the prevention of biodiversity by exploring two impacts of biodiversity loss: the impact on indigenous communities and the impact on economic growth. The paper then briefly also explained the policies that both governments, as well as nongovernment actors, can implement in order to tackle biodiversity loss and protect our environment.


Author(s):  
Niels Viggo Haueter

Reinsurance is perceived to have a stabilizing effect on the direct insurance industry and thereby on the economy overall. Yet, research into how exactly reinsurance impacts various areas is scarce. Traditionally, studying the impact of reinsurance used to be in the domain of actuaries; since the 1960s, they have tried to assess how different contract elements can provide what came to be called “optimal reinsurance.” In the 2010s, such research was intensified in developing countries with the aim to deploy reinsurance to support economic growth and security. Interest in reinsurance increased when the industry became more visible in the 1990s as the impact of natural catastrophes started being linked to a changing climate. Reinsurers emerged as spokespeople for climate-related issues, and the industry took a lead role in arguing in favor of implementing measures to reduce environmental deterioration. Reinsurers, it was argued, have a vested interest in managing the impact of natural catastrophes. This triggered discussions about the role of reinsurance overall and about how to assess its impact. In the wake of the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, interest in reinsurance again surged, this time due to perceived systemic impacts.


2006 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. STIRLING ◽  
D. HARRIS ◽  
J. R. WITCOMBE

There is no one widely accepted method of managing international agricultural research and numerous different models exist. Here we review one in particular, referred to as the ‘institute without walls’, from the perspective of the UK Department for International Development's (DFID) Renewable Natural Resource (RNR) Research Strategy (1990–2006). We begin with a brief history of the RNR Research Strategy from 1990 to 2004. We then draw on nearly 15 years experience of managing one of the programmes within the RNR Research Strategy to assess critically the impact of externally and internally imposed organizational and management changes on the performance of the DFID Plant Sciences Programme (PSP). The current RNR Research Strategy (1995–2006), with its emphasis on demand-led research, has greatly increased the relevance and effectiveness of DFID's natural resources research. A comparison between the PSP in 2004 and the early 1990s inevitably concludes that the programme has been transformed: unlike in 1991, research is now firmly demand-driven, much is based in developing countries and farmers are benefiting from the research. Over time, the outputs of the long-term strategic research have been applied in practical plant breeding and participatory crop improvement programmes. Key to the success of the PSP has been the provision of continuous, long-term funding which has allowed projects time to develop and produce outputs of real value to end users. Alongside this, the ability of the PSP to build long-term, in-country partnerships has ensured the effective adoption of its research outputs. We conclude that the successes of the PSP have largely derived from (i) identification of research that is clearly demand driven, (ii) continuous long-term funding that has allowed research to move from the strategic to adaptive phase, (iii) continuity of management, and (iv) the flexibility to develop a wide range of partnerships, both in-country and overseas, based on their ability to deliver.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 256-266
Author(s):  
A. Mamatkulov

Author analyzes the impact of foreign direct investment on domestic investment in host developing countries and checks whether a foreign direct investment has a “positive” or “negative” impact on domestic investment, as well as evaluating the impact of selected variables on this relationship. Using a full sample, the main conclusion of this study is that FDI does have a positive (crowding out) effect on domestic investment in this sample of developing economies. In the short term, an increase in FDI by one percentage point as a percentage of GDP leads to an increase in total investment as a percentage of the host country’s GDP of about 10.7%, while in the long term this effect is about 31% dollar terms, one US dollar represents us 1.7$ of total investment in the short term and us 3.1$ in the long term. Based on the results of this study, it was once again proved that inflation hinders domestic investment in host countries by 0.04% and 0.12% in the short and long term, respectively.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4.) ◽  
pp. 101-118
Author(s):  
Szabolcs Pasztor

Despite the fact that currency devaluations are likely to have a negative effect on the economy in the long run, Ethiopia devalued its national currency, the birr (ETB), by 15 percent in 2017. They turned to this option in the hope of attracting more investments from abroad, decreasing import bills, improving the current account deficit and giving a boost to the exports of the coffee sector. A couple of months later, the impact seems to be promising because the export has been revived in some areas. However, it has to be stressed that the imported commodities may experience a price increase, there can be a widening balance of payments deficit and rising inflation. The paper aims to shed more light on the short- and long-term impacts of currency devaluations in the developing countries with a special emphasis on Ethiopia. Also, the recent Ethiopian measure is to be analyzed in greater detail highlighting the impacts on export earnings, import bills, the balance of payments, and on the overall competitiveness of the coffee sector.


The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of reforms that took place in Indian economy in 1991. Balance of payment difficulty resulted in acute economic crisis and therefore economic reforms were inevitable. Post this incident; there have been three more phases of economic reforms. Economic reforms were compelled due to international pressure of the situation post balance of payment crisis of 1991. The significance of this study lies in the derivation of various ways in which these reforms played a major role in the transformation of Indian economy in the form of its impact on poverty, education, socio-cultural mixture, economic growth etc. We have tried to revisit situation of payments crisis and tried to understand if these reforms were enough and were they concrete measures to tackle long-term problem or if they were only sufficient to handle the crisis. Finally we have tried to find out, as to what was left out of reforms or what other measures could have been taken. Balance of payment difficulties are difficulties faced by most of the underdeveloped or developing countries


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carole Ibrahim

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the effect of corruption on public debt and economic growth in 20 developing countries over the period 1996-2018. Design/methodology/approach This study makes use of the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to detect the long-term relationships, on the one hand, between corruption and public debt and, on the other hand, between corruption and economic growth. Findings The empirical results reveal that corruption increases the debt-to-GDP ratio and that the interactions between corruption and public revenues and between corruption and public spending have a positive influence on public debt in the long run. The estimations also show that high corruption hampers long-term economic growth and increases the negative effect of public debt on economic growth in developing countries. Originality/value While corruption is a prevalent phenomenon in most developing countries, the literature still lacks empirical examination of its economic effects. This study fills this gap with the aim of highlighting that high corruption hinders development in developing nations. This study also examines the impact of the interactions between corruption and components of the fiscal balance on public debt. Moreover, while the existing empirical literature uses regression techniques, this paper uses a panel ARDL approach to detect the long-term effects of corruption.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 97 (6) ◽  
pp. 981-983
Author(s):  
Milton Markowitz ◽  
Hung-Chi Lue

An injection of 1.2 million U benzathine penicillin G (BPG) every 3 or 4 weeks has proven by far to be the most effective method to prevent recurrences of acute rheumatic fever.1-3 The efficacy of this method of prophylaxis was first demonstrated more than 40 years ago, and since its introduction, it has played a major role in reducing the morbidity and mortality from rheumatic fever.4 Rheumatic fever causes 25% to 40% of all cardiovascular diseases in developing countries.5 Because of the impact of this disease on public health, the World Health Organization (WHO) has helped establish programs for prevention of recurrent attacks of rheumatic fever in many developing countries.6 WHO recommends BPG as the prophylactic drug of choice. One of the problems encountered has been the high drop-out rates among patients enrolled in these programs. Among the reasons for discontinuing prophylaxis is the fear of an allergic reaction.7 The initial study using BPG for the prevention of recurrences of rheumatic fever in children and adolescents reported only 5 (1.2%) mild allergic reactions among 410 patients receiving monthly injections.1 Since then, although rheumatic fever prevention in the United States (U.S.) has consisted almost exclusively of using BPG, there been very few documented reports of serious allergic reactions in rheumatic fever patients on long-term prophylaxis. The only fatalities reported in the American literature occurred in four adults with advanced rheumatic heart disease.8,9 The salutary experience with BPG in the U.S. contrasts sharply with the numerous anecdotal reports of fatal allergic reactions to BPG in many developing countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 347
Author(s):  
Budiandru Budiandru ◽  
Deni Nuryadin ◽  
Muhammad Dika Pratama

<p><em>Globalization is rapidly causing an integration of economic and financial systems worldwide, resulting in shocks to the Islamic stock index and reducing the benefits of diversification for investors. Therefore, this study analyzes the integration, influence, response, and contribution of shocks to each developing country’s Islamic stock index. Specifically, analyzing the effect of developing country sharia stock index shocks on Indonesia's sharia stock index. The study uses monthly time series data for 2011-2021 with samples from Indonesia, Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan, Kuwait, and India using the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) method. The results showed cointegration or a long-term relationship in the developing countries’ sharia stock index. The Malaysian Islamic Stock Index and the Indian Islamic Stock Index influence the Indonesian Islamic Stock Index. Furthermore, the Indonesian Islamic Stock Index stabilized the fastest in response to the Turkish Islamic Stock Index shocks. However, the Malaysian Islamic Stock Index shock contributes the most to the Indonesian Islamic Stock Index. Developing countries could improve the infrastructure of the Islamic stock index and policy reforms. This would minimize the impact of international stock index shocks and accelerate integration. Investors should consider the dominant economic strength, geographical factors, and trade relations in determining portfolio diversification in global economic conditions.</em></p><div class="notranslate" style="all: initial;"> </div>


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