The ESG Initiative at the Wharton School News Recently Launched: Wharton Alumni Social Impact Club Alumni—there are more ways than ever to engage in social impact. Learn more about getting involved. Wharton alumni are leaders in business, government, academia, philanthropy, and more. Though their diverse experiences span sectors, social impact…Read More
ESG Initiative News
Does the Coastal Barrier Resources Act Provide a Policy Template to Address Wildfire Risk?
March 21, 2019 Margaret Walls, Matthew Wibbenmeyer, and Carolyn Kousky Climate change is contributing to increasing losses from floods and wildfires in many parts of the United States. These disasters have an important feature in common: their likelihood of occurrence and potential damages vary significantly across the landscape, with some…Read More
Meet 12 Social Impact Leaders Who Will Receive Loan Forgiveness Awards in 2019
The ESG Initiative at the Wharton School News Meet 12 Social Impact Leaders Who Will Receive Loan Forgiveness Awards in 2019 The Wharton Social Impact Initiative is pleased to announce the 2019 recipients of the John M. Bendheim Loan Forgiveness Fund for Public Service. These 12 Bendheim Fellows are examples…Read More
To Make Sure its Utilities Survive Climate Change, California Needs Liability Law Reform
February 25, 2019 Carolyn Kousky When PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection in January, several observers declared the electric utility the first casualty of climate change. But as much as global warming is to blame for PG&E’s financial woes, state policy is equally responsible. California has a legal regime, practically unique…Read More
How Insurance Companies Influence Households’ Flood Insurance Choices
January 28, 2019 Benjamin Collier and Marc Ragin Households face a high-stakes problem in selecting an insurance contract. How much coverage should they buy? What deductible should they choose? The household must weigh premiums paid today against losses from an unlikely – but possibly catastrophic – future event such as…Read More
A New Measure to Assess Companies’ External Engagement
(Outlet: LSE Phelan US Centre) – Could a single tweet destroy your company? Just a few years ago, a question like that might have seemed absurd. But now that possibility is something that executives and investors around the world are increasingly thinking and worrying about. Perhaps the most prominent evidence of this trend arrived at the start of 2018, when BlackRock’s Larry Fink laid out in his annual CEO letter what he believes organisations risk when they don’t get smart on social engagement.…Read More
Local Solutions to Flood Insurance Affordability: Portland’s Flood Insurance Savings Program
November 14, 2018 Jacob Sherman and Carolyn Kousky Following pricing changes to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and several years of rising premiums, the city of Portland, Oregon began to see flood insurance as a destabilizing force in some neighborhoods. In the absence of any changes to federal policy,…Read More
Hack-for-Resilience
September 25, 2018 The University of Pennsylvania is home to the world’s first and one of the largest student-run hackathons. Over one weekend in early September roughly 1,200 students converged for PennApps. Over 3,000 students had applied to attend. This year, the Wharton Risk Center’s Policy Incubator and the Insurance…Read More
Recovering from Disasters: Evaluating FEMA’s Housing Assistance Program in the 2017 Hurricane Season
Recovering from Disasters: Evaluating FEMA’s Housing Assistance Program in the 2017 Hurricane Season September 24. 2018 As residents of North Carolina deal with the impacts of Hurricane Florence, many communities in the United States are still recovering from the 2017 hurricane season, one of the most devastating in history. Three…Read More
Florida’s Private Residential Flood Insurance Market
September 20, 2018 Brett Lingle* and Carolyn Kousky Florida homeowners are extremely vulnerable to flood damage, yet many of those at risk are uninsured. For the last fifty years, the federally-run National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has largely been homeowners’ only option for flood insurance. In just the last few…Read More