Climate change means actuaries are making a radical new calculation about the price of risk

Rana Foroohar — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 00:00:49 +0000

I thought we were done with masks. But no. New Yorkers were wearing them again last week, at least those of us who dared to go out on the street, as the city was blanketed with thick plumes of smoke from Canadian wildfires that have been burning for more than a month. School and outdoor events were cancelled and residents were warned to stay inside, as air quality hit its worst recorded level ever. New York became, albeit briefly, one of the most dangerous places on the planet to breathe.

Bizarre as it was to see the city covered in a Delhi-esque haze, this was no black swan event. Wildfires have raged in recent years across California, south-east Australia, Canada and parts of the Mediterranean, thanks to higher temperatures and longer dry seasons. According to the reinsurer Munich Re, global losses from wildfires between 2018 and 2022 reached $69bn, with insurers paying out $39bn in claims.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Rana Foroohar

Eric Adams’s plan may not be perfect, but we desperately need a better system for aiding people who are mentally ill

Rana Foroohar — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 08:00:30 +0000

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I’m referring here to New York mayor Eric Adams’s now contentious plan to get people who are mentally ill and homeless in New York City off the streets by taking more of them to hospital, even if they don’t want to go. The idea was to target “the shadow boxer on the street corner in Midtown, mumbling to himself as he jabs at an invisible adversary”, as Adams, put it, and other such people who are clearly a danger to themselves or others. Anyone who has lived in New York knows who he is talking about. We’ve been on the subway with such people, and it’s both tragic and terrifying.

I remember dealing with this sort of situation on a regular basis when I moved to the city in 1988, and I can say that we are once again seeing this type of behaviour more frequently. I’m not sure whether it’s about strained city budgets, overcrowded or unsafe shelters, the end of coronavirus stimulus relief and/or an economic slowdown, but I’m certainly encountering greater numbers of people on the street who seem unwell than I did in the pre-Covid past.

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This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Rana Foroohar

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Climate change means actuaries are making a radical new calculation about the price of risk

Eric Adams’s plan may not be perfect, but we desperately need a better system for aiding people who are mentally ill

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