In Socioeconomic Effects of the National Flood Insurance Program, I estimate the net the social benefit of the NFIP for the years 1996 through 2010, including the estimated consumer surplus for flood insurance using historical financial and survey data available from the NFIP. Using this estimate and other components of net social benefits, this analysis derives a sufficient statistic for the insurance component of the NFIP and is joined with other estimates of the benefits of the FMA to estimate the net social benefits of the combined program. A supplemental analysis is done using different income weighting scenarios in a distributionally weighted benefit-cost analysis. Finally, this study includes an analysis of the change in government revenue attributable to the NFIP and FMA programs. Sensitivity analysis is conducted on all results. Presented through each component of the analysis are models usable by others for extending and revising the analysis, or applying to other programs.
The primary audience of this text are policymakers, non-governmental organization representatives, and academics working on flood-related issues. This includes those studying the effects of floods on populations, academics working on similar issues relating to natural disasters, generally, and policymakers working on NFIP reform.