The U.S. homeowners insurance market is facing mounting strain from climate risk. Extreme weather events such as wildfires and hurricanes are increasing costs and reducing availability, threatening household financial stability, housing markets, and disaster recovery.
On March 18, The Hamilton Project and Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy will host an event on homeowners insurance and climate risk. The discussion will offer lessons and policy solutions for insurance and reinsurance in the era of climate change.
The event will feature a fireside chat between Minnesota Commerce Commissioner Grace Arnold and Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway. It will also include two panel discussions. Panelists include Judson Boomhower (University of California San Diego), Rebecca Diamond (Harvard University), Thomas Holzheu (Swiss Re Institute), Benjamin Keys (University of Pennsylvania), Nellie Liang (Brookings Institution), Adam Solomon (NYU), Michael Wara (Stanford Doerr), David Wessel (Brookings Institution), and Roy Wright (Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety).
In conjunction with this event, The Hamilton Project will release a proposal for creating a federal reinsurance program to slow the rise in insurance premiums and make the market more stable.
For updates on the event, viewers can follow @HamiltonProj and @BrookingsEcon on Twitter/X and @hamiltonproject.org on Bluesky. To ask questions, join the conversation using #ClimateInsurance or email [email protected].
Agenda
10:00 a.m. | Welcome
Robert E. Rubin, Former U.S. Treasury Secretary; Chairman Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations
10:05 a.m. | Fireside chat
Grace Arnold, Commissioner, Commerce Department, State of Minnesota
Michael Conway, Insurance Commissioner, State of Colorado
Moderator: David Wessel, Director, Hutchins Center of Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, Brookings Institution
10:30 a.m. | Panel discussion
Thomas Holzheu, Chief Economist, Americans, Swiss Re
Benjamin Keys, Rowan Family Foundation Professor of Real Estate and Finance, Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
Adam Solomon, Assistant Professor, NYU Stern School of Management
Moderator: Nellie Liang, Senior Fellow, The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Economic Studies, Brookings Institution
11:15 a.m. | Panel discussion
Judson Boomhower, Associate Professor of Economics, University of California San Diego
Rebecca Diamond, Martin Feldstein Professor of Economics, Harvard University
Roy Wright, President and CEO, Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety
Moderator: Michael Wara, Senior Director for Policy, Sustainability Accelerator, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
