This Day - 9/11 - and the Knell of the Free Trade Fantasy

September 11, in the UK and many other countries, is summarised as 11.9.17. But in the USA they put the month first, hence 9.11 or 9/11. The date 9/11 has become even more rooted in folklore and the media as the descriptor of the terrorist attack on New York than is 'ground zero' as a synonym for the site at which the destruction was centred. It is purely coincidental that on this same date in 2017 an unprecedented storm has struck the mainland USA in Florida.

Besides providing an opportunity for him to show, for a second time, that he performs better in the context of a natural catastrophe than George W Bush did, Donald Trump has completely overcome his verbal incompetence in addressing this calamity. If he reverts to his usual bluster once the crisis is passed, his recent performance will quickly be forgotten: but, for the moment, his image is greatly enhanced by his mobilisation of congressional Democrats to expedite relief programmes.

Both New York on the 'original' 9/11 and the present [diminishing] hurricane Irma are proof that in a world where both the weather and the wickedness of human beings can create unprecedented catastrophes, a system of untrammeled free trade cannot prepare social and economic institutions, or the political system or the psyche of individuals to cope with unprecedented calamity. While it is probable that any extreme weather or earthquake event that we have recently experiences has been exceeded by many greater events before humans existed, we live within the record of human experience. In a much reduced timescale than the period over which we have economic records, the insurance business has grown sophisticated, within its own parameters, in coping with disasters that affect businesses and individuals' estates [i.e. all their material assets] by paying for repair, replacement or reinstatement of assets that are damaged or destroyed by flood, fire, storm winds and other catastrophic and humdrum accidental causes.

Insurers are even prepared to take on concentrations of obvious risks, such as the tower blocks in the City of London or at Canary Wharf; and the homes, hotels, shops and offices in Tampa and other built-up areas of Florida. But they only take on those risks on strictly defined conditions. The properties must accord in full with the building standards that apply to the type of building and its location; which, of course, represents a massive restriction of free trade imposed by government. Thus Florida can ban construction that does not provide assurance of its capacity to withstand storms of the force of Irma. No government can compel insurers to extend insurance cover to building that do not meet building regulations that the insurers do not accept as sufficiently robust for the perceived risks that could operate in the area where the asses are placed. There are many instances where state authorities in the USA will only allow insurers to operate if they take on risks in categories that the firm would not accept: so they simply do not write such business in such areas. In one case, over many years, one major US insurer did not write some categories of business within the state where they were headquartered. In the UK, where expectations of catastrophe are much lower, properties susceptible to serious flooding can only be insured at affordable premiums under conditions established and guaranteed by the government. Thus the accessibility of insurance is limited by the choices that have been made by political bodies; to which companies have to conform.

The idea of complete freedom to build almost any sort of home anywhere in a hurricane-high-risk area cannot survive the need for structures to meet requirements for both health and safety and for insurance; while the state authorities and relevant utility companies exert their right nor to provide a road, or sewerage, or water or gas supply to property that is inappropriately sited in terms of risk management. Thus, to a very considerable extent, taxpayers are protected by not having their communal resources and assets put at risk by buccaneering businesses.

It will be interesting [and often very sad] to see how far the sort of system of building regulations that has been implemented in Florida in recent decades has been set up in the various territories through which Irma passed. How much property has been insured, to what extent, with what exclusions: in the end,this will show how much loss will fall on the well-capitalised and highly organised insurance business and how much will fall on people who had to take the risk themselves.This will emerge over the coming weeks. But the key point to note here is that insurers and governments necessarily collaborate to make any sort of insurance, and any sort of sophisticated structure or business activity viable.

The Econocratic idea that there should be free trade in every field simply does not work in this area.

What does work, is collaboration between government agencies and insurers to ensure that when people [personally as as managers of firms] make investment decisions that are rational in the geographic and temporal context, then viable insurance is available at a fair price. There may from time to be small differences in the price [the premium charged] for an insurance product in any month, but these arise from the need of competing insurers each to maintain the balance of their 'book'  - their total range and cover of risks - so that it meets their template for the mix of business. by making small adjustments in the price, up or down, one insurer brings balance to the book while all their competitors experience a countervailing movement of business away from them. This helps all the books to be balanced as the companies plan, all the time.

Primary insurers who supply policies for individuals and households and for all types of business constantly balance their book of business internally. They also buy reinsurance so that larger losses than they want to accept on their own balance sheet, which could drain away too much of the company's own capital. Reinsurance is a highly efficient market in which capital providers find a profitable way of investing their funds until more lucrative possibilities emerge.


Both insueBoth insurers and reinsurers