US Department of Housing and Urban Development's "Rebuild by Design" Competition
BJH was the economic advisor to WXY/West 8’s Rebuild by Design team, developing a benefit-cost analysis framework for the team’s design solution – man-made barrier islands to be positioned off the coast of New York-New Jersey. In addition to establishing parameters for the benefit-cost discussion, BJH advised on issues relating to insurance markets in general and disaster related insurance products specifically. BJH interfaced with engineering team members on cost estimates as well as AIR’s disaster modelers who computed mitigated damage figures under storm scenarios where off-shore barriers or dune features protected the main land from severe storm surge. BJH also provided a high-level economic impact assessment of the contribution of the construction of the barriers/dunes to the regional economy, which included an assessment of employment (direct, indirect and induced), as well as broad based economic output. Link to the report here.
