As professor of economics at Austin College and the National Center for Risk and Resilience, University of Oklahoma, Kevin M. Simmons talked about the danger of hurricanes in the United States from which residential buildings are only moderately protected. In most states, although minimum standards are set for residential protection against such storms, corresponding decisions are finally made by the individual municipalities. Consequently, these are facing two strong lobbies: homeowners who want to build under lowest possible costs and insurance companies which demand stricter standards.
Simmons discussed two strategies: on the one hand, people can be legally required to adhere to higher standards; on the other hand, they can be encouraged to follow higher residential protection standards with more information - as far as their income permits this. According to Simmons, social scientists and especially economists play an important role to provide arguments for appropriate policy instruments which eventually help to better protect municipalities and communities better.
Weblink to the National Institute for Risk & Resilience, University of Oklahoma:
http://risk.ou.edu/
