WHOSE SAFETY NET - HOME INSURANCE AND INEQUALITY

Drawing on prior theoretical and empirical work that has begun to cons titute the insurance field as a distinct sociolegal research project, this study uses quantitative and qualitative data collected following Hurricane Andrew in 1992 to explore distributional questions within th at field. Survey results show that higher income, age, and education w ere associated with having home insurance and that Hispanics and black s were less likely than non-Hispanic whites to have insurance. The stu dy provides the first quantitative evidence of bias in the insurance c laims process by documenting a statistically significant and substanti al ethnic difference in the timing of insurance payments. The qualitat ive research helps to explain the difference in the timing of insuranc e payments as the product of unconscious bias by insurance adjusters. The study concludes by proposing market-structuring regulation to redu ce the inequality encountered.