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The Economic Insurance Value of Ecosystem Resilience


Stefan Baumgärtner


Leuphana University of Lüneburg - Dept. of Sustainability Sciences and Dept. of Economics

Sebastian Strunz


Leuphana University of Lueneburg

July 3, 2009


Abstract:     
Ecosystem resilience, i.e. an ecosystem’s ability to maintain its basic functions and controls under disturbances, is often interpreted as insurance: by decreasing the probability of future drops in the provision of ecosystem services, resilience insures risk-averse ecosystem users against potential welfare losses. Using a general and stringent definition of ‘insurance’ and a simple ecological-economic model, we derive the economic insurance value of ecosystem resilience and study how it depends on ecosystem properties, economic context, and the ecosystem user’s risk preferences. We show that (i) the insurance value of resilience is negative (positive) for low (high) levels of resilience, (ii) it increases with the level of resilience, and (iii) it is one additive component of the total economic value of resilience.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 33

Keywords: ecosystem resilience, economic value, insurance, risk, risk preferences

JEL Classification: Q57, Q56, D81, G22

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Date posted: July 4, 2009  

Suggested Citation

Baumgärtner, Stefan and Strunz, Sebastian, The Economic Insurance Value of Ecosystem Resilience (July 3, 2009). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1429269 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1429269

Contact Information

Stefan Baumgärtner (Contact Author)
Leuphana University of Lüneburg - Dept. of Sustainability Sciences and Dept. of Economics ( email )
Germany
HOME PAGE: http://www.leuphana.de/seg
Sebastian Strunz
Leuphana University of Lueneburg ( email )
Scharnhorststrasse 1
Lüneburg, 21314
Germany
Feedback to SSRN (Beta)


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