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Publications

Filter Results: (69) Arrow Down
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  • All HBS Web  (69)
    • News  (13)
    • Research  (49)
    • Multimedia  (2)
  • Faculty Publications  (15)

Show Results For

  • All HBS Web  (69)
    • News  (13)
    • Research  (49)
    • Multimedia  (2)
  • Faculty Publications  (15)
Page 1 of 69 Results →
  • March 2024 (Revised January 2025)
  • Case

Hippo: Weathering the Storm of the Home Insurance Crisis

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Sophia Pan
Rick McCathron, CEO of Hippo, considered how the firm’s underwriting model could account for the effects of climate change. Along with providing smart home packages, targeting risk-friendly customers, and using data-driven pricing, the Insurtech used technologically... View Details
Keywords: Fintech; Underwriters; Big Data; Insurance Companies; Business Model Design; Weather Insurance; Business Model; Forecasting and Prediction; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Technological Innovation; Natural Environment; Natural Disasters; Weather; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Business Earnings; Insurance; Social Issues; Insurance Industry; United States; California
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Cohen, Lauren, Grace Headinger, and Sophia Pan. "Hippo: Weathering the Storm of the Home Insurance Crisis." Harvard Business School Case 224-080, March 2024. (Revised January 2025.)
  • Article

Targeting Weather Insurance Markets

By: Anita Mukherjee, Shawn Cole and Jeremy Tobacman
The suitability of insurance products often depends greatly on individual circumstances. This paper examines the challenges of heterogeneity in a relatively new product, weather‐indexed insurance. This index insurance product has been launched in over a dozen... View Details
Keywords: Index Insurance; Labor Markets; Self-insurance; Self-protection; Weather; Insurance; Markets; Household; Risk Management
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Mukherjee, Anita, Shawn Cole, and Jeremy Tobacman. "Targeting Weather Insurance Markets." Journal of Risk and Insurance 88, no. 3 (September 2021): 757–784.
  • January 2025
  • Supplement

Hippo: Weathering the Storm of the Home Insurance Crisis (B)

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Sophia Pan
Rick McCathron, CEO of Hippo, was optimistic about the InsurTech's path to profitability after navigating the financial uncertainties of 2022. By bundling their home insurance services with third-parties and established insurance incumbents, Hippo was adopting a... View Details
Keywords: Fintech; Underwriters; Big Data; Homeowners' Insurance; Catastrophe Risk; Global Warming; Environment; Business Economics; Vertical Specialization; Bundling; Economies Of Scale; Business Model; Forecasting and Prediction; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Technological Innovation; Natural Environment; Natural Disasters; Weather; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Business Earnings; Insurance; Social Issues; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Insurance Industry; California; United States
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Cohen, Lauren, Grace Headinger, and Sophia Pan. "Hippo: Weathering the Storm of the Home Insurance Crisis (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 225-051, January 2025.
  • 20 Jun 2024
  • News

Could Insurtech Firm Hippo Weather Climate Change and Disrupt the Insurance Industry?

  • 13 Jun 2024
  • Video

Could Insurtech Firm Hippo Weather Climate Change and Disrupt the Insurance Industry?

  • 14 Nov 2024
  • News

How the Insurance Industry Can Weather the Storms

Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Spotify More Skydeck episodes Hi, this is Dan Morrell, host of Skydeck. Liberty Mutual CEO Tim Sweeney (MBA 1991) says that 2012 was the year that climate change started really showing up on the balance sheet. “This is a horrible... View Details
  • 2017
  • Article

Agricultural Insurance and Economic Development

By: Shawn A. Cole and Wentao Xiong
This article provides a review of recent research on agricultural insurance (AI) in developing countries. Agricultural producers face a variety of significant risks; historically, only government-subsidized products have achieved widespread adoption. A recent... View Details
Keywords: Agribusiness; Insurance; Developing Countries and Economies; Adoption; Risk Management; Research; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry
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Cole, Shawn A., and Wentao Xiong. "Agricultural Insurance and Economic Development." Annual Review of Economics 9 (2017): 235–262.
  • April 2020
  • Article

Field Comparisons of Incentive-Compatible Preference Elicitation Techniques

By: Shawn A. Cole, A. Nilesh Fernando, Daniel Stein and Jeremy Tobacman
Knowledge of consumer demand is important for firms, policy makers, and economists. One common tool for incentive-compatible demand elicitation, the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) mechanism, has been widely used in laboratory settings but rarely evaluated for... View Details
Keywords: Incentive-compatible Elicitation; Experimental Methods; Weather Insurance; Rainfall Insurance; Agricultural Extension; Demand and Consumers
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Cole, Shawn A., A. Nilesh Fernando, Daniel Stein, and Jeremy Tobacman. "Field Comparisons of Incentive-Compatible Preference Elicitation Techniques." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 172 (April 2020): 33–56.
  • 06 Nov 2012
  • Op-Ed

Stop Talking About the Weather and Do Something: Three Ways to Finance Sustainable Cities

The wrath of Hurricane Sandy has illuminated a fundamental question: How do we ensure that our cities are resilient in the face of inevitable future disasters? A destroyed city is not a sustainable city. I'm making the case that it's time to stop complaining about... View Details
Keywords: by John Macomber; Construction; Real Estate; Energy; Utilities
  • 14 Dec 2021
  • News

What Options do Building Owners Have to Mitigate Extreme Weather Events?

  • February 2007 (Revised October 2007)
  • Case

BASIX

By: Shawn A. Cole and Peter Tufano
BASIX, an Indian microfinance corporation, must decide whether to continue to sell weather insurance to its clients. A brand-new financial product, weather insurance pays if measured rainfall during the growing season falls below a pre-specified limit. Mr. Sattaiah,... View Details
Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Microfinance; Insurance; Risk Management; Banking Industry; India
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Cole, Shawn A., and Peter Tufano. "BASIX." Harvard Business School Case 207-099, February 2007. (Revised October 2007.)
  • September 2012
  • Case

BASIX (Abridged)

By: Shawn Cole and Peter Tufano
BASIX, an Indian microfinance corporation, must decide whether to continue to sell weather insurance to its clients. A brand-new financial product, weather insurance pays if measured rainfall during the growing season falls below a pre-specified limit. Mr. Sattaiah,... View Details
Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Microfinance; Household; Risk Management; Insurance; Banking Industry; India
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Cole, Shawn, and Peter Tufano. "BASIX (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 213-035, September 2012.
  • 04 Jun 2024
  • Cold Call Podcast

How One Insurtech Firm Formulated a Strategy for Climate Change

Keywords: Re: Lauren H. Cohen; Insurance
  • Teaching Interest

Business Opportunties in Climate Adaptation

By: John D. Macomber

This is a Short Intensive Program or SIP at Harvard Business School.  It’s an optional student offering prior to the formal start of the Spring semester the following week.  SIPs tend to cover new material on current topics, to be less formal than the HBS Case Study... View Details

Keywords: Resilience; Climate Risk; Climate Impact; Fire Protection; Insurance Risk Exposure; Hedge Fund; Public Health; Public Health Measures; Climate Change; Adaptation; Infrastructure; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Africa; Latin America
  • 2013
  • Working Paper

How Does Risk Management Influence Production Decisions? Evidence from a Field Experiment

By: Shawn Cole, Xavier Gine and James Vickery
Weather is a key source of income risk, particularly in emerging market economies. This paper uses a randomized controlled trial involving a sample of Indian farmers to study how an innovative rainfall insurance product affects production decisions. We find that... View Details
Keywords: Risk Management; Production; Weather; Insurance; Emerging Markets; Agribusiness; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry; India
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Cole, Shawn, Xavier Gine, and James Vickery. "How Does Risk Management Influence Production Decisions? Evidence from a Field Experiment." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13-080, March 2013. (Revised September 2014.)
  • March 2025
  • Case

The Changing Climate on Wall Street

By: Clayton S. Rose, Maxim Pike Harrell and Michael Norris
Increasing and conflicting regulatory requirements and political pressures regarding climate change tested the leaders of U.S. financial institutions, as they struggled to determine how best to comply while managing their business and its risks. In October 2024,... View Details
Keywords: Change; Disruption; Competency and Skills; Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Ethics; Governance; Corporate Accountability; Leadership; Management; Risk Management; Organizations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Society; Civil Society or Community; Social Issues; Strategy; Adaptation; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Europe
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Rose, Clayton S., Maxim Pike Harrell, and Michael Norris. "The Changing Climate on Wall Street." Harvard Business School Case 325-020, March 2025.
  • 07 Sep 2021
  • Research & Ideas

Who Pays For Wildfire and Hurricane Damage? Everyone.

New Mexico homeowners might think their inland location buffers them from the financial toll of climate change, but they’re still paying for climate-related property damage occurring in coastal states. New research finds that homeowners in New Mexico and other states... View Details
Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Insurance
  • Web

Podcast - Business & Environment

notes and resources visit; climaterising.org How Insurance Companies are Addressing Climate Risks 10 APR 2024 | Climate Rising This episode in our adaptation series focuses climate change’s implications on the View Details
  • Web

Skydeck - Alumni

Managing the Future of Work, Stephen Moret (MBA 2011) discusses the root causes of this trend—and what policymakers and the private sector can do to address it. How the Insurance Industry Can Weather the... View Details
  • Web

Topics - HBS Working Knowledge

Insurance (10) Integrated Corporate Reporting (9) Integration (9) Intellectual Property (58) Interactive Communication (6) Interdisciplinary Studies (1) Interest Rates (1) Interests (1) International Accounting (1) International Finance... View Details
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