Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate

Heartland's Center on Finance Insurance and Real Estate (C-FIRE) focuses on free-market, pro-consumer regulation of financial markets. We favor policies that empower individuals, replace centralized government authority, and pare regulations. Our efforts have involved fighting price controls, arguing against government takeovers of private markets, and abolishing subsidies for companies.

We focus on a limited subset of issues where we feel we can make a meaningful difference. When confronted with an issue, we always strive to respond as quickly as possible; we want to be in every news cycle. In carrying out our work, we make special efforts to partner with anyone and everyone who shares at least some of our views.

Visit our blog, Out Of The Storm News.

Report: Texas (Again) Has Nation’s Highest Homeowners Premiums

Texans may like things big, but they probably don’t like knowing their homeowners insurance...

Insurance

Matthew Glans
TARP Results Deteriorating, Led by AIG’s Woes

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has released new projections stating the Troubled Asset...

Insurance

R.J. Lehmann
Bailouts: Government’s Project to Finance Failure

During the recent financial crisis no issue aroused more passion than financial institution...

Insurance
Another Swipe Fee Battle Unfolding

Another major dispute over interchange fees could take place soon, this one centering on the swipe...

Insurance

Bill Hardekopf
Crop Insurers Post Record $9.1B Losses in 2011

Indemnity payments on U.S. multi-peril crop insurance policies set a new record of $9.1 billion in...

Insurance

R.J. Lehmann

Featured Works

Property & Casualty Insurance Report Card, 2011 Edition

Solving the Flood/Wind Problem After Hurricane Losses:

Freedom Rising: 7 Big Ideas for Congress

Four Problems, Four Solutions: A Blueprint for Reforming Texas’s Insurance Environment

Ideas

The Flood/Wind Divide

Following major storms, it's often impossible to determine whether winds or waters caused damage to a structure. This leads to lengthy court battles, high costs for insurers, delays for homeowners, and equally high costs for the taxpayers who back the National Flood Insurance Program. Heartland's Standardized Loss Allocation System, proposed by Sen. Roger Wicker, could fix this problem, make things better for homeowners, and save billions for taxpayers.
Mitigation

The best way to prepare for natural disasters isn't buying more insurance or spending more on government relief efforts -- it's mitigation efforts to stop disaster sfrom becoming worse. MItigation efforts -- which both free market and "green" groups support -- involve doing things to encourage risk-based insurance rates, retrofit properties against nature's worst, and help individuals prepare themselves for disasters.