Today, many Americans find themselves inadequately protected against a broad array of risks, including both individual hazards (such as illness, accident, and loss of job or income) and catastrophic threats (such as terrorism and natural disaster). Poorly managed risk is often painful for individuals and families and can become a dangerous obstacle to economic growth, discouraging the sort of entrepreneurial risk-taking that has long fueled American economic progress.
We recently asked six leading scholars in the developing field of risk policy to write short papers (intended for discussion at a meeting on May 6, 2007) on the management of critical risks facing the nation. The six scholars, all members of the Tobin Project's Risk Policy Working Group, took up a broad range of risk-related topics, from consumer lending and asset bubbles to the financing of higher education and disaster losses.
The working papers on this page were written by members of the Tobin Project's Risk Policy Working Group.
All papers reflect the authors' own views.
Hard copies can be obtained by contacting the Tobin Project at:
One Mifflin Place - Suite 240
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 547-2600
Document links require Adobe Reader.
Working Papers
Income Inequality and Human Capital Development
- Inequality-Indexing of the Tax System
- A Ticket to the Middle-Class: Working Off College Debt
- Insure the Students, Not the Lenders
- College Access for All: Promoting Investment in Education through Income-Contingent Lending
Expanding Social Insurance
- Universal Risk Insurance: Stop-Loss Protection for Middle-Class Family Finances
- Health Care for America
Regulation of Insurance and Credit
- The Case for Federal Regulation of Insurance
- Make Credit Safer: The Financial Product Safety Commission
- Antitrust Issues in Credit Card Merchant Restraint Rules