Data and Code for: "Flood Risk Mapping and the Distributional Impacts of Climate Information"

This paper examines the provision of official flood risk information in the United States and its distributional impacts on residential flood insurance take-up. Assembling all flood maps produced afterHurricane Katrina, I document that updated maps decreased the number of properties zoned in high-risk floodplains and incorrectly omitted five million properties, primarily in neighborhoods with more Black and Hispanic residents. Leveraging the staggered timing of map updates, I estimate that updated maps decreased flood insurance take-up and exacerbated racial disparities in insurance coverage. While past map updates distorted risk and price signals, correcting flood maps would yield substantial welfare gains.<br> <br>