We are thrilled to introduce you to Assistant Professor Philip Mulder who has joined the Risk and Insurance Department. After completing his Ph.D. in Applied Economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2022, he spent one year as a postdoctoral economist with the U.S. Treasury in the Office of Financial Research.
Philip engages others with a warm personality and enthusiasm in his voice, especially when he is discussing his timely research interests in climate finance, real estate, household finance, environmental economics, and insurance. His research into climate risk started in graduate school and remains the common thread across his research areas. “I have not lived in coastal Florida or high flood risk areas! But I became interested in flood insurance, primarily the National Flood Insurance Program, after studying how sea level rise was impacting real estate markets in Florida. I found that the way people choose whether to buy flood insurance was different from what you might predict in an abstract model,” shared Philip.
“It is not only large companies making decisions based on climate risk. You also have individual homeowners making decisions about their insurance and where they will live. It is on their minds, but they don’t always have all the information they need to make the best decision,” explained Philip. For his Ph.D. research, Philip surveyed homeowners and compared their understanding of their flood risk and resulting purchase of insurance. He found that homeowners did understand their flood risk to a degree but relied on FEMA “flood maps” to decide whether to purchase flood insurance. The problem? Many of those flood maps incorrectly categorized high-risk homeowners outside the 100-year floodplain, leading them to mistakenly believe they were low-risk and did not need flood insurance. “That’s very different than what you see in many economic models of insurance, where the insurance buyer understands their risk and the insurer is trying to catch up.”
Philip will begin his UW-Madison teaching career this spring with the popular class Risk Analytics and Behavioral Science that includes a discussion of behavioral science biases that impact decisions made by individuals. His research and interests are a perfect connection with this class, and he looks forward to working with students so they better understand how people make decisions around risk and uncertainty.
We are excited to have Assistant Professor Philip Mulder with us and cannot wait for you to meet him. He moved to Madison from Philadelphia with his partner, young daughter, and dog. He appreciates all the outdoor opportunities and family activities available and enjoys walking around his community, including to his local coffee shop. One decision he is having fun researching is determining whether Babcock or the Chocolate Shoppe has the better ice cream. Perhaps, time and multiple scoops of ice cream will tell (and he’s open to more suggestions). He may be reached at philip.mulder@wisc.edu.
Selected Research by Assistant Professor Philip Mulder
“Risk Rating without Information Provision,” with Carolyn Kousky. American Economic Association Papers & Proceedings (2023).
“Neglected No More: Housing Markets, Mortgage Lending, and Sea Level Rise,” with Ben Keys. You can read an accessible write-up here or see coverage by the New York Times.
“Money to Burn: Wildfire Insurance via Social Networks,” with Tony Cookson and Emily Gallagher. Social Sciences Research Network (2023).