Congressional Briefing - July 9, 2007
Assessing Policy Options for Renewing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act
Date: |
Monday, July 9, 2007 |
Time: |
3:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. |
Location: |
2220 Rayburn House Office Building
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About the Program
Congress passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) following the terrorist attacks on 9/11 in order to stabilize the insurance markets, which were stung by $32 billion in damage claims. TRIA requires insurers to make terrorism coverage available to commercial policyholders but in return guarantees that the federal government will reimburse insurers for losses from terrorism above certain thresholds. TRIA is up for reauthorization this year and Congress must decide whether to extend, modify, or let TRIA expire.
RAND has years of expertise in studying TRIA and will be presenting the most recent interim findings from an upcoming report examining alternative government interventions in the market for terrorism insurance. These include keeping TRIA in current form, allowing the program to expire, and modifying it to offer coverage for chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) attacks. Dr. Lloyd Dixon and Dr. Robert Lempert will present findings relevant to the reauthorization of TRIA including:
- TRIA performs better on the outcomes measured for conventional attacks than letting the program expire, but TRIA does not effectively address the risks of CBRN attacks for businesses or taxpayers; and
- Requiring insurers to offer CBRN coverage without other program changes has little upside for coverage of CBRN attacks and can have significant unintended consequences in dealing with conventional attacks.
The report Trade-Offs Among Alternative Government Interventions in the Market for Terrorism Insurance: Interim Results is available at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/documented_briefings/DB525/
About the Speakers
Lloyd Dixon, Ph.D. is a Senior Economist at RAND who specializes in insurance, compensation, and liability issues. An expert in terrorism risk insurance, Dr. Dixon's recent publications include National Security and Private-Sector Risk Management for Terrorism, Economically Targeted Terrorism: A Review of the Literature and a Framework for Considering Defensive Approaches, and Compensation for Losses From the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks.
Robert Lempert, Ph.D. is a Senior Physical Scientist at RAND with expertise in long-term policy analysis, risk and uncertainty management, and strategy under uncertainty. An internationally known scholar in the field of decisionmaking under conditions of deep uncertainty, Dr. Lempert's recent publications include High Performance Government in an Uncertain World and Despite Deep Scientific Uncertainty, Long-Term Problems Can Be Tackled.
About RAND
The RAND Corporation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis. RAND has a long tradition of analysis in transportation and supply chain issues. RAND's expertise matches the complexity of the challenges facing the global supply chain: staff members are experts in systems analysis, logistics, economics, labor policy, terrorism, risk assessment and management, technology assessment, and legal and policy analysis.
RAND has headquarters in Santa Monica, California, and U.S. offices in Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, PA, and Jackson, MI. Overseas offices are located in the United Kingdom, and Qatar.
Further Inquiries
For further information about this event, contact Kristy Anderson at kristy_anderson@rand.org or 703-413-1100 ext. 5196.