Pierce Myers surveys the history of the idea of insurance, from the Code of Hammurabi, the gradual loosening of prohibitions on charging interest, the interest on loans to finance cargo shipping, through Lloyds of London, and the development of property insurance after the Great Fire of London (1666).

He reviews the current approaches to wildfire management in California, noting how total suppression creates a negative feedback loop. Fuel reduction via proscribed burns are unpopular and prone to litigation. Attempts to improve building standards have to deal with generations of different codes and standards that have evolved, and also the tendency of people to rebuild exactly what just burned.

Myers suggests that insurance could potentially help, by clarifying real risks. But in the meantime, he notes a variety of geographically customized insurance programs: “Mesoeconomics is an emerging level of action in which specific regions deal with the effects of climate stress … through a series of institutions, subsidies, financial programs, infrastructure projects, or regulatory frameworks which may have little in common with adjacent regions or national systems. It identifies a pattern of reactive adaptation, in lieu of any coherent global emissions reduction.”

He concludes by asking, “How will climate stress transform the ways risk is priced, pooled, and absorbed?”

Starting at 34:26, Myers responds to comments and questions from the audience.