Insurance And Risk Related Equine Study In Eastern Halifax Regional Halifax Municipality

Abstract

On June 13, 2008 a forest fire affected Eastern Halifax Regional Municipality leading to the evacuation of five hundred homes and eighteen horse facilities. At the time of the June 2008 forest fire not all horses in Nova Scotia were insured. I am using the horse facilities affected by the fire as a natural experiment to answer the following question: Did the June 2008 forest fire cause horse facility operators to change their insurance decisions? To answer this question surveys were completed by horse facilities in the affected (treatment) and unaffected (control) areas. Data collected from horse facilities operators suggest they did change insurance decisions. Given the proximity in time and place to the June 2008 forest fire, horse facilities in both the treatment and control groups felt more at risk and were likely motivated to insure coverage for a low probability but high risk hazard.