Promoting resilient economies by exploring insurance potential for facing coastal flooding and erosion: Evidence from Italy, Spain, France and United Kingdom

•The main theoretical perspectives on insurance in flood risk management are reviewed.•Perceived risks of coastal hazards and insurance schemes are analysed.•The possible adoption of insurance schemes within the European Union is examined.

Insurance against natural perils such as flooding can be considered a significant element in coastal management. It can offer not only much-needed support to accelerate economic and social recovery following a disaster (coastal resilience) but also contribute to impact limitation by using pricing or restrictions on availability of coverage to discourage new development in hazard-prone areas. Insurance can affect the redistribution of damage costs across the population and through time, both in the short and long term. Policies of damage reduction are linked to mitigation measures for the properties (old or new buildings) by changing the depth–damage relationship while the long-run risk impacts could affect the overall damage function by discouraging new buildings in high risk areas. This paper will provide an overview of the main theoretical perspectives on insurance in flood risk management. Four different European contexts will be analysed. Data are derived from surveys and interviews conducted in France, United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.