Allan Hsiao
Academic
February 27, 2023, 12:15 PM EST

Bradford Seminar: Sea Level Rise and Urban Adaptation in Jakarta

Sea level rise poses an existential threat to Jakarta, which faces frequent and worsening flooding. The government has responded with a proposed sea wall. In this setting, I study how government intervention complicates long-run adaptation to climate change. I show that government intervention creates coastal moral hazard, and I quantify this force with a dynamic spatial model in which developers and residents act with flood risk in mind. I find that moral hazard generates severe lock-in and limits migration inland, even over the long run.

Allan Hsiao is assistant professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University.

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