Whose Safety Net? Home Insurance and Inequality
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1996
Abstract
Drawing on prior theoretical and empirical work that has begun to constitute the insurance field as a distinct sociolegal research project, this study uses quantitative and qualitative data collected following Hurricane Andrew in 1992 to explore distributional questions within that field. Survey results show that higher income, age, and education were associated with having home insurance and that Hispanics and blacks were less likely than non-Hispanic whites to have insurance. The study provides the first quantitative evidence of bias in the insurance claims process by documenting a statistically significant and substantial ethnic difference in the timing of insurance payments. The qualitative research helps to explain the difference in the timing of insurance payments as the product of unconscious bias by insurance adjusters. The study concludes by proposing market-structuring regulation to reduce the inequality encountered.
Publication Title
Law & Social Inquiry
Repository Citation
Baker, Tom and McElrath, Karen, "Whose Safety Net? Home Insurance and Inequality" (1996). All Faculty Scholarship. 2730.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/2730
Publication Citation
21 Law & Soc. Inquiry 229 (1996)