Natural Disasters and Individual Behaviour in Developing Countries

This study investigates the complex link between natural disasters, individual behaviour – in the form of an individual’s risk-taking propensity and level of trust – and the demand for microinsurance. Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of natural hazards and climate change as they affect their development processes and set back poverty reduction efforts. Using a unique data set for rural Cambodia based on a survey, experimental games and a discrete choice experiment, the study highlights the importance of perceptions, expectations and psychological factors in decision-making processes with substantial consequences for long-term economic perspectives and poverty alleviation. 

Dr. Oliver Fiala is a development economist, specialising in the role of financial instruments against natural disasters in developing countries. After studying economics at TU Dresden, he worked for four years as a Research Assistant at the university’s Faculty of Business and Economics, where he completed his doctoral thesis in 2016.He has worked on various private sector and academic research projects across the fields of development, environmental, behavioural, regional, health and microeconomics. He was an organiser of the ‘International Conference on Shocks and Development’ 2016 in Dresden, and has shaped and taught economics courses in Germany and Cambodia.