National University of Ireland, Galway, J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, Ireland.
National University of Ireland, Galway, J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, Ireland; Athlone Instititute of Technology, Ireland.
J Environ Manage. 2021 Jul 15;290:112607. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112607. Epub 2021 Apr 23.
Agriculture represents one of the most vulnerable sectors to extreme weather events that are projected to increase with climate change. Insurance has been advocated as a more efficient means to ensure financial security to farmers, than post-disaster aid for damages. A potential drawback of insurance however, is that unless carefully designed it could dis-incentivise farmers to engage in wider farm adaptation measures or lead to more risk-taking behaviour. This paper analyses the attractiveness of publicly-backed climate risk insurance offerings to farmers and explores their preferences for elements of insurance schemes that do not negatively affect incentives for wider farm adaptation. Specifically, a discrete choice experiment is used to reveal Irish farmers' preferences for multi-annual insurance contracts and weather-indexed versus traditional indemnity insurance and cost. Results indicate that a majority of farmers are willing to buy publicly-backed insurance for protection from extreme weather events. Younger farmers, farmers who currently have farm insurance, farmers from certain geographical locations and farmers who have been previously affected by extreme weather events are more likely to buy insurance. With respect to the design of insurance schemes, farmers prefer multi-annual coverage versus annual renewal. They also prefer indexed-insurance and have a strong preference for cheaper coverage. Despite the important role that insurance could play in protecting farms financially from damage caused by extreme weather events, few studies have examined preference for weather-indexed insurance within a European context. New evidence on farmer preferences and intended behaviours is therefore critical to inform policy in this area.
农业是受气候变化导致的极端天气事件影响最严重的领域之一。有人主张，保险是一种比灾后对损害进行援助更有效的方式，可以确保农民的经济安全。然而，保险的一个潜在缺点是，如果设计不当，它可能会阻碍农民采取更广泛的农业适应措施，或导致更多的冒险行为。本文分析了有政府支持的气候风险保险对农民的吸引力，并探讨了他们对不会对更广泛的农业适应激励产生负面影响的保险计划要素的偏好。具体来说，使用离散选择实验来揭示爱尔兰农民对多年期保险合同以及天气指数保险与传统赔偿保险和成本的偏好。结果表明，大多数农民愿意购买有政府支持的保险，以防范极端天气事件。年轻农民、目前有农业保险的农民、来自特定地理位置的农民和以前遭受过极端天气事件影响的农民更有可能购买保险。就保险计划的设计而言，农民更喜欢多年期保险，而不是每年续保。他们还更喜欢指数保险，并强烈希望保费更便宜。尽管保险在保护农场免受极端天气事件造成的损失方面可以发挥重要作用，但很少有研究在欧洲背景下考察对天气指数保险的偏好。因此，关于农民偏好和预期行为的新证据对于为这一领域的政策提供信息至关重要。
