Ian Adams Cited in The Orange County Register on Policy Failures Behind Los Angeles Wildfires
ICLE Executive Director Ian Adams was mentioned in The Orange County Register in an article arguing that the devastating Los Angeles wildfires were not merely natural disasters, but the result of policy and institutional failures, including zoning rules that pushed development into high-risk fire zones, insurance regulations that underprice wildfires risk, and lapses in fire prevention and infrastructure management. Read the full article here.
Research by the International Center for Law & Economics reveals that the state has the worst “regulatory rate suppression” in the nation. In other words, people in high wildfire risk areas often don’t pay premiums that reflect the true risk of their location. Without insurance price controls or zoning restrictions by government, a functional market would emerge and encourage people to live in safer areas with lower insurance costs, away from wildfire risks.