The Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, established in 1985, is a research center affiliated with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Engaging students and faculty throughout the University in collaborations, research projects, and other partnerships, the Center is recognized worldwide as a leader in risk-related research and policy analysis. The Risk Center also serves as a bridge between scholars at Penn and organizations and decision-makers in the public and private sectors.
Opportunities
Call for Wharton Faculty Research Proposals: Climate & Sustainability
Postdoctoral Research Position in Climate Risk Management
Community-Based Catastrophe Insurance
This report, produced in partnership with Marsh & McLennan and Guy Carpenter, looks at community-based catastrophe insurance (CBCI), a new model of catastrophe insurance delivery to secure widespread coverage and help sustain communities following a catastrophic event.
NEW ISSUE BRIEF
Low- and moderate-income (LMI) households and communities suffer disproportionately from disasters, and there are a few policies or programs to help them achieve post-disaster financial resilience. This brief is intended to help policymakers begin the conversation about what new or supplemental policies could help LMI households in at-risk areas.
Scaling up Coastal Ecosystem Protection
In our fifth Digital Dialogue, fourteen experts weigh in on what financial measures and policies are most successful for scaling coastal ecosystem protection.
The world continues to struggle with the spread of the novel coronavirus and the impacts are rippling through the global economy. Sound risk management is more important than ever. At the Wharton Risk Center, we engage with our partners to meaningfully support management of evolving threats, such as this one.
Risk Center resources and contributions from our scholars will be added to the site as made available. See the resources here.
Featured Publications
In the News
EV Turning Point: Momentum Builds for U.S. Electric Vehicle Transition
YaleEnvironment360
“Driven by GM, Tesla, and the Biden administration, the U.S. is now poised to press ahead in the transformation to electric vehicles. Big challenges still loom, but technological advances, government support, and growing consumer appeal will drive the inevitable switch to EVs” write Affiliated Scholars, John Paul Macduffie and Sarah E. Light in this article.
New Data Reveal Where Flood Damage Is An Existential Threat
NPR
“If you don’t have the finances you need to recover, then families have to make really difficult trade-offs, like maybe forgo spending on medical expenses because otherwise you don’t have a safe home,” says Carolyn Kousky in this NPR article discussing data released by the First Street Foundation, a nonprofit research organization that studies flood risk and housing.
Why Biden should launch an Ecosystem Restoration Corps in 2021
The Hill
Natural areas provide critical ecosystem services, yet they are being degraded by pollution, stressed by climate change, ravaged by invasive species, and fragmented to the point of collapse. Carolyn Kousky proposes an Ecosystem Restoration Corps as a first step to improving the health of our ecosystems, while also providing meaningful employment during the Covid-19 downturn.
A Climate Resilience Roadmap for the Next Administration
Medium
“Public policy plays a critical role in either attenuating or magnifying the economic costs of climate change. It is time to put the United States on a path toward climate resilience.” Executive Director, Carolyn Kousky, offers an 8-part federal policy agenda for the new Biden Harris administration to consider.
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Wharton Risk Management
and Decision Processes Center
St. Leonard’s Court | Suite 130
3819 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
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