8.4 Suggestions for Future Research
Due to the evident practical difficulties in creating the conditions for a viable and sustainable private
flood insurance market that have been described in this thesis, it might be considered an easier and
more profitable route to introduce flood insurance to the business sector first (EP, 2013). Business
interruption costs after floods have far more impact on individuals’ wealth and on the economy as a
whole than domestic damage from which it is relatively inexpensive and simple to recover as losses are
far less interrelated. Selling insurance products that hedge flood risk exposure within the Dutch business
sector, both domestically and internationally, may be more a more viable choice for private insurance
companies as well as being more socially useful for the Netherlands as a whole. This could be a fruitful
avenue for future research.
A possible observation of wider relevance to the study of sustainable development that can be inferred
from the above conclusion concerns the reason why the most recent proposal from the Dutch
Association of Insurers was rejected. Competition laws often restrict private companies if they seek to
operate (and make profit) in domains that have been traditionally seen as the preserve of the public
sector. Dubbink (2003) predicted this difficulty would occur when society moves from a ‘direct’ to ‘indirect’
responsibility model of environmental governance. In asking for mandatory flood insurance, the
Association was in essence seeking quasi-governmental powers which, as predicted by Dubbink,
encountered resistance on grounds of competition. If the private sector is to share more responsibility
with the public sector for environmental governance, for example, offering private flood insurance for
climate change adaptation, it would be interesting to understand different ways of framing the private
sector’s involvement. If accusations of excessive profit seeking by private actors operating inside the
public domain are to be avoided, changes will be necessary in both the law and in public discourse.
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