Researcher Profile

Carolyn Kousky

Visiting Fellow

kousky@rff.org

Download CV

Topics of Interest

• Climate Change
• Ecosystems
• Environmental Economics Topics
• Land Use
• Risk and Uncertainty
• Water
• Climate Adaptation
• Ecosystem Services and Management
• Insurance
• Natural Disasters and Extreme Events
• Natural Infrastructure
• Oceans and Coasts
• Uncertainty

Carolyn Kousky has published numerous articles, reports, and book chapters on the economics and policy of natural disasters and disaster insurance markets. She has examined the demand for natural disaster insurance, the functioning of the National Flood Insurance Program, the incentive effects of disaster aid, and policy responses to potential changes in extreme events with climate change. Kousky is the recipient of the 2013 Tartufari International Prize from the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, and was a member of the National Research Council Committee on Analysis of Costs and Benefits of Reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program. She is on the editorial board of Economics of Disasters and Climate Change.

Education

PhD in Public Policy, Harvard University, 2008
BS in Earth Systems, Stanford University, 2002

Selected Work

• Journal Article

  The Pricing of Flood Insurance

  May 4, 2017 | Carolyn Kousky, Brett Lingle, Leonard A. Shabman
  Risk and Uncertainty
• Journal Article

  Federal Funding for Flood Risk Reduction in the US: Pre- or Post-Disaster?

  Jan 20, 2017 | Carolyn Kousky, Leonard A. Shabman | 11 pp.
  Risk and Uncertainty
• Journal Article

  Threatened Protection: Sea Level Rise and Coastal Protected Lands of the Eastern United States

  Dec 17, 2016 | Rebecca Epanchin-Niell, Carolyn Kousky, Alexandra Thompson, Margaret A. Walls | pp. 118–130

  This article examines US coastal protected lands and the potential consequences and associated reductions in ecosystem services from sea level rise in the context of current funding and adaptation planning for conservation.

  Water
• Journal Article

  Disasters as Learning Experiences or Disasters as Policy Opportunities? Examining Flood Insurance Purchases after Hurricanes

  Aug 31, 2016 | Carolyn Kousky
  Risk and Uncertainty
• Journal Article

  Impacts of Natural Disasters on Children

  May 4, 2016 | Carolyn Kousky | pp. 73-92
  Risk and Uncertainty
• Journal Article

  Examining Flood Insurance Claims in the United States: Six Key Findings

  Oct 23, 2015 | Carolyn Kousky, Erwann Michel-Kerjan | 32 pp.
  Risk and Uncertainty
• Journal Article

  A Historical Examination of The Corps of Engineers and Natural Valley Storage Protection: The Economics and Politics of “Green” Flood Control

  Oct 3, 2014 | Carolyn Kousky | pp. 23-40
  Ecosystems Land Use Risk and Uncertainty Water
• Journal Article

  Tropical and Extratropical Cyclone Damages under Climate Change

  Sep 25, 2014 | Matthew Ranson, Carolyn Kousky, Matthias Ruth, Lesley Jantarasami, Allison Crimmins, Lisa Tarquinio | pp. 227-241
  Climate Change Risk and Uncertainty
• Journal Article

  Floodplain Conservation as a Flood Mitigation Strategy: Examining Costs and Benefits

  Oct 10, 2013 | Carolyn Kousky, Margaret A. Walls | pp. 119-128

  Protecting the floodplain from development along the Meramec River in St. Louis County, Missouri, not only results in benefits from avoided flood damages, but also in increased property values for homes near protected areas.

  Ecosystems Environmental Economics Topics Land Use Risk and Uncertainty Water
• Journal Article

  Managing shoreline retreat: a US perspective

  Apr 1, 2014 | Carolyn Kousky | pp. 9-20
  Climate Change Environmental Economics Topics Risk and Uncertainty
• Journal Article

  Informing Climate Adaptation: A Review of the Economic Costs of Natural Disasters, Their Determinants, and Risk Reduction Options

  Jul 5, 2012 | Carolyn Kousky | 62 pp.
  Climate Change Risk and Uncertainty
• Journal Article

  Explaining the Failure to Insure Catastrophic Risks

  Jan 25, 2012 | Carolyn Kousky, Roger M. Cooke | 21 pp.
  Risk and Uncertainty
• Journal Article

  Risk Premia and the Social Cost of Carbon: A Review

  Dec 20, 2011 | Carolyn Kousky, Robert Kopp, Roger M. Cooke | pp. 1-24
  Climate Change Risk and Uncertainty
• Journal Article

  Managing Natural Catastrophe Risk: State Insurance Programs in the United States

  Jun 1, 2011 | Carolyn Kousky | pp. 153-171
  Environmental Economics Topics Risk and Uncertainty