Penn Program on Regulation: Past Seminars

Fall 2007 - Seminars

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - Risk Regulation Seminar: "Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophe"

Time: 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Location: Room F 50 Huntsman Hall, Wharton School
Speaker: Howard C. Kunreuther and Erwann O. Michel-Kerjan, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Topic: Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophe
Details: Data on losses from natural disasters and other extreme events suggest we are now in a new era of catastrophes. Hurricane Katrina alone caused $65 billion in insured losses (including for floods), the most costly disaster the insurance industry has ever had; All 20 of the most costly events to the insurance industry since 1970 occurred after 1987 with half of them occurring since 2001. This talk describes a major research project currently being undertaken by the Wharton Risk Center in conjunction with Georgia State University and the Insurance Information Institute on the role of the private and public sectors in mitigating and financing recovery from natural disasters in the United States. We will address the following question: What is the best way for the nation to prepare and recover from large-scale disasters? Alternative disaster insurance and mitigation programs will be evaluated with a focus on how the current programs, where insurance is highly regulated, compare with a private market solution where insurers are free to set risk-based rates. The talk will propose a set of new programs for mitigating and insuring risks that include long-term insurance and mitigation loans, comprehensive insurance and vouchers for low-income residents in hazard-prone areas who may not be able to afford risk-based insurance premiums.

Howard C. Kunreuther is the Cecilia Yen Koo Professor of Decision Sciences and Public Policy at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Co-Director of the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center.

Erwann O. Michel-Kerjan is Managing Director of the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - Seminar

Time: 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Location: Tanenbaum Hall, Room 345
Speaker: Kimberly K. Smith, Currie C. and Thomas A. Barron Visiting Professor in the Environment and Humanities Princeton University
Topic: "Understanding Environmental Justice"
Download Paper (PDF)

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - Risk Regulation Seminar: "Risk Regulation in 3-D: How to See (and Balance) Benefits and Costs as they Truly Are"

Time: 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Location: Room F 55 Huntsman Hall, Wharton School
Speaker: Adam Finkel, Fellow and Executive Director, Penn Program on Regulation & Lecturer of Public and International Affairs Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University and Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health, UMDNJ School of Public Health
Details: Routinely, decisions to control (or not to control) health, safety, and environmental hazards are made on the basis of estimates of the benefits of intervention and the costs thereof. Numerical estimates of cost and benefit tell only the barest beginnings of the story, however, as they are inevitably surrounded by both uncertainty and inter-individual variability. This presentation will describe how risk scientists and regulatory economists view these phenomena, present case examples from various decision-making arenas of misleading lack of attention to them, and suggest ways to modernize cost-benefit analysis to make it useful for precautionary and equitable choice.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - Risk Regulation Seminar: "Risk Management Principles for Nanotechnology"

Time: 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Location: Room F 55 Huntsman Hall, Wharton School
Speaker: Gary Marchant, Professor of Law; Executive Director & Faculty Fellow, Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology; Lincoln Professor of Emerging Technologies, Law & Ethics, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law Arizona State University
Details: Risk management of nanotechnology is challenged by the enormous uncertainties about the risks, benefits, properties, and future direction of nanotechnology applications. Because of these uncertainties, traditional risk management principles such as acceptable risk, cost-benefit analysis, and feasibility are unworkable, as is the newest risk management principle, the precautionary principle. Yet, simply waiting for these uncertainties to be resolved before undertaking risk management efforts would not be prudent, in part because of the growing public concerns about nanotechnology driven by risk perception heuristics such as affect and availability. A more reflexive, incremental, and cooperative risk management approach is required, which not only will help manage emerging risks from nanotechnology applications, but will also create a new risk management model for managing future emerging technologies.
Download Paper (PDF)

Spring 2007 - Seminars

Tuesday, January 30, 2007 - Risk Regulation Seminar

Time: 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Location: Tanenbaum Hall, Room 145
Speaker: Lewis Branscomb, Public Service Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Management in the Aetna Chair Emeritus, Harvard University (View Bio)
Topic: “Is Private Efficiency a Threat to Public Security and to Economic Resilience? The Challenge to Governance in a Market Economy”
Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response: How Private Action Can Reduce Public Vulnerability, New York, Cambridge University Press, September, 2006.
Book Details
Chapter 1(PDF)

Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - Risk Regulation Seminar

Time: 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Location: Tanenbaum Hall, Room 145
Speaker: Robert E. Litan, VP for Research and Policy at the Kauffman Foundation
Senior Fellow, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution (View Bio)
Topic: “Preparing for Mega-Catastrophes: Mitigation, Insurance, Response and Recovery”
“Preparing for Future Katrinas” (PDF)
“Preparing For Pandemic Flu: A Call To Action” (PDF)
“Accelerating the Katrina Recovery” (PDF)

Monday, March 12, 2007

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.
Location: Gittis Hall, Room 214
Speaker: Daniel J. Fiorino (View Bio)
Topic: “Innovation in Environmental Law.”

Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - Risk Regulation Seminar

Time: 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Location: Tanenbaum Hall, Room 145
Speaker: Richard Zeckhauser, Frank Plumpton Ramsey Professor of Political Economy, Harvard University (View Bio)
Topic: “Obstacles to Clear Thinking about Natural Disasters: Five Lessons for Policy” (PDF)
View Presentation Abstract (PDF)

Fall 2006 - Risk Regulation Seminars

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Jonathan B. Wiener, William R. and Thomas L. Perkins Professor of Law, Duke University
The Tragedy of the Uncommons: Institutional Responses to Catastrophic Risks

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Dr. Irwin Redlener, Director of The National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, and President of The Children's Health Fund.
Preparing for Megadisasters: Why We're Not Ready, And What We Need To Do Now

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Phil Weiser, Professor of Law and Telecommunications, University of Colorado; Visiting Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania. (View Bio)
Clearing the Air: Convergence and the Safety Enterprise (PDF)