Livingstone Undergraduate Research Award in the Social Sciences
Livingstone Undergraduate Research Award in the Social Sciences
Wesley E. Martin
Environmental Justice Implications of NFIP Pricing Reforms: A Case Study of Miami-Dade County
View Wesley's project online
The U.S. Congress recently ordered the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to overhaul its methodology for risk assessment and premium pricing as climate-change-related disasters have saddled the agency with massive amounts of debt. These reforms are aimed at reducing costs, not ensuring equitable access to flood insurance for homeowners of different socioeconomic statuses. Investigating the environmental justice implications of these reforms, I found that they do compel many wealthy homeowners to pay more of their fair share than they had previously, though they still fall short of achieving an environmentally just outcome, as many lower-income homeowners still face elevated cost burdens and unaffordable rate hikes.
What is your major and expected year of graduation?
I am a political science and environmental studies double major, and I graduate in May 2025.
What inspired you to pursue your project?
I’ve become interested in studying insurance because it is a massive yet largely invisible component of the economy. For a previous class, Climate Justice, I wrote a paper discussing the social and economic ramifications of private insurance companies pulling out of markets in certain high-risk regions of the United States. For this project, I turned my focus to the NFIP to understand how publicly funded insurers are responding to this growing crisis. Insurers play a significant role in deciding how the economic consequences of our increasingly unstable climate will be distributed, and I believe policymakers must develop a regulatory framework to ensure that our most vulnerable populations are not consigned to financial ruin if their homes are destroyed in a natural disaster.
How did the Libraries support your research?
At the beginning of the semester, one of Temple’s librarians visited my class to show us how to navigate the university’s library resources and access various relevant databases. This was immensely helpful, as I utilized the library’s online search tools to find dozens of scholarly articles, as well as several large quantitative datasets, to conduct my research. Charles Library was also a useful study space that allowed me to focus while I wrote.
Wesley Martin’s Environmental Studies Senior Seminar research project examines the environmental justice impacts of the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) revised risk rating system. Using a case study of Miami-Dade County, Wes carefully develops a framework to assess what an environmentally just pricing strategy would look like. He then uses mapping, statistics, and a review of policies to measure the impact of the NFIP pricing on environmental justice communities. The paper is an example of how thoughtful interdisciplinary thinking and qualitative and quantitative research methods can come together to help us answer important policy questions. I am extremely proud of Wes for his important achievement and look forward to seeing him develop as a policy researcher.
— Christina Rosan, Associate Professor, Geography, Environment and Urban Studies, College of Liberal Arts
This category covers research methods in the social sciences. Disciplines represented include such fields as Anthropology, Business, Communication Studies, Economics, Education, Geography and Urban Studies, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. Social sciences often include qualitative or quantitative research methods similar to those used by the "hard" sciences, but may also involve more traditional library research in the form of a literature review.
This award is generously sponsored by John H. Livingstone, SBM ’49.