Clark Center Forum

About the Clark Center Forum

The Forum for the Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets is home to the European, Finance, and US Economic Experts Panels as well as a repository of thoughtful, current, and reliable information regarding topics of the day.
Finance

Wildfires

Question A:

California's insurance industry regulator issued statements shortly before and shortly after the recent wildfires started (on December 30, 2024, and January 9, 2025):
https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2024/release065-2024.cfm

https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2025/release005-2025.cfm

In the face of growing wildfire risks, price caps on insurance premiums have substantially reduced the viability of private property insurance markets in California.

Responses

© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
15%
0%
0%
0%
5%
46%
33%
Source: Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
Methodology
Question B:

A mandatory one-year moratorium on insurance non-renewals and cancellations would lead to a substantial longer-term reduction in the supply of private home insurance products and the number of households that are insured against catastrophic risk in areas of California affected by recent wildfires.

Responses

© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
15%
0%
0%
3%
21%
54%
8%
Source: Clark Center Economic Experts Panel
Methodology
 
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Environment, Climate Change, & Natural Resources
On Global Markets

A Private Party?

It can be all too easy for both investors and those writing about finance and economics to get too caught up in the day-by-day and week-by-week moves of financial markets. The drama of sudden gyrations, rallies, and declines is sometimes irresistible and there is always a risk that too much significance will be attached to […] 
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Articles
On Global Markets

Bond Turbulence

It is never a good sign for finance ministers when bond market moves make the front pages of the non-financial press. That is what has happened this week in Britain as the rising yield on gilts (as British sovereign bonds are rather quaintly sometimes dubbed) rose to multi-year highs. The yield on ten year British […] 
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Articles
Europe

Europe’s Defense Sector

This European survey examines (a) The likely need for increased European public investment in defense should come with substantial reallocations of public budgets at the national and EU levels; (b) Greater use of joint EU-level procurement of military equipment and defense research/innovation would promote substantially enhanced capacity in Europe's defense industry; (c) Increased defense spending would deliver a measurable boost to economic growth in Europe over the next five years 
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Democracy, Government, & Public Policy
US

Tariffs, Technology, and Growth

This US survey examines (a) Doubling existing tariffs on imports from China of critical production components in solar energy manufacturing will provide a substantial boost to employment in the domestic 'cleantech' sector over the next five years; (b) Disruptions to global supply chains from new tariffs and trade wars will lead to measurably slower global growth over the next five years 
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Economic Growth, Development, & Productivity
FT-Booth US Macroeconomists Survey

FTxBooth: 2025, an Economic Look-Ahead

This installment of the FTxBooth US Macroeconomists Survey discusses the 2025 outlook for the US economy. The summary results are below and you can read the Financial Times article here, subscription required. View the results of this survey >> For social media: Please use the hashtag #FTxBooth when referring to the FT-Booth US Macroeconomists Survey. 
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FT-Booth US Macroeconomists Survey
On Global Markets

Stock Picking

Economics is a broad subject, certainly one of the broadest of all the social sciences. Indeed, over the last year, the polls of the Clark Center’s various panels of experts have covered everything from education funding to tariffs to climate change to concert ticket pricing. And yet whenever your columnist mentions what he does for […] 
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Articles
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Topics

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