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Risky Science Podcast

Risk Market News
Climate Change
Insurance
Risk Modeling
Artificial Intelligence
Catastrophe Modeling
Insurance Market
Natural Disasters
Prediction Markets
Reinsurance
Insurance Industry
California
Wildfire
Private Credit
Weather Derivatives
Natural Catastrophes
Catastrophe Models
Socio-Economic Development
Public-Private Partnerships
Flooding
Life Insurance

The Risky Science Podcast features conversations with scientists, insurers, investors, portfolio managers, and others about the evolving science of predicting and modeling risk across both natural and man-made perils.

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes52Foundeda year ago
Number of ListenersCategories
InvestingBusinessScience

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Latest Episodes

Private credit didn't just find a new source of capital—it may have changed the role of life insurance itself. Andrew Granato and Pranjal Yadav explain why insurance regulation, guaranty funds and opaque private assets could become increasingly impor... more

For years, the biggest competitive battles in insurance have been between insurers. Underwriting. Pricing. Capital management.

But artificial intelligence may be changing the rules.

What if the next major competitor doesn't come from another insura... more

Listen to the full replay of the latest Risky Science Live "Private Capital, Public Flood: Risky Science Live". The panel examines what a larger private flood market actually requires: the modeling sophistication to price the peril credibly, and the ... more

Jane Kim just finished first in the race to become California's next insurance commissioner. She's a former San Francisco supervisor and worked for Bernie Sanders. And where Allen wants to draw private capital back into the market, Kim wants to build... more

Weather derivatives have struggled with liquidity for 25 years. Jim Huang thinks prediction markets can finally fix that — but only if the contracts are built around events people actually watch.

In this return conversation with Risk Market News, th... more

In this week’s episode we are digging into California's insurance market — and specifically, into the fight over who actually owns wildfire risk. Is it the insurers pulling back from high-risk areas? The utilities whose equipment sparks some of these... more

This week we focus on the tragic catastrophe in Venezuela, where powerful earthquakes tore along the San Sebastián fault and devastated Caracas. As a result, buildings collapsed, the airport shut down, and the death toll climbed.

And a fragile countr... more

A year ago, I sat down with Carmi Margalit, Managing Director and the Life Insurance Sector Lead at Standard & Poor’s Annual Insurance Conference to talk about private credit on insurance balance sheets . So when I caught up with him again this year,... more

Key Facts

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Recent Guests

Andrew Granato
Professor/Researcher from University of Texas
University of Texas
Episode: Insurance Isn't Just Transferring Risk Anymore
Pranjal Dahl
Researcher from Yale
Yale University
Episode: Insurance Isn't Just Transferring Risk Anymore
Professor Chan
Professor at Harvard Business School with prior roles in Liberty Mutual and UnitedHealth
Harvard Business School
Episode: Can Big Tech Become The Next Insurance Company?
Jane Kim
Candidate for California Insurance Commissioner
California Insurance Commissioner Candidate
Episode: Jane Kim and California's Insurance "Hostage Situation"
Ben Allen
California State Senator
California State Senate
Episode: Risk Doesn't Disappear, It Gets Allocated
Ziggy Lubkowski
Geotechnical earthquake engineer, Arup's global seismic expert
Arup
Episode: Venezuela, The Built Environment And Lessons of a Catastrophic Earthquake
Carmi Margalit
Managing Director and Life Insurance Sector Lead at Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's
Episode: Sticky Liabilities, Illiquid Assets and the Private Credit Perception Gap
Karen Clark
Founder and CEO, Karen Clark & Company
Karen Clark & Company
Episode: 2026 Hurricane Season: Risk, Markets, Models
Vijay Magnani
Co-founder and CIO, Kingridge Capital
Kingridge Capital
Episode: 2026 Hurricane Season: Risk, Markets, Models

Host

Chris Westfall
Host of Risky Science Podcast, host of The Risky Science Podcast

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Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Can Big Tech Become The Next Insurance Company?
Q: Does AI actually reduce the importance of traditional underwriters, or do they become more important in a broader contract design?
Underwriters remain crucial, but their role expands to include meta-underwriting—deciding how prevention changes risk—and they must re-tool to integrate prevention impact into pricing and policy design.
Risk Doesn't Disappear, It Gets Allocated
Q: What's the assessment of the state fair plan versus expanding the admitted market?
The fair plan should be reformed and eventually scaled down as the admitted market strengthens, with improvements in competition, pricing transparency, and robust risk reduction to reduce long-term dependence on the plan.
Risk Doesn't Disappear, It Gets Allocated
Q: What is the role of a public catastrophe model in California, and how would it interact with private models?
A public model would serve as a transparent benchmark to test assumptions and improve transparency, while private models remain essential for market pricing and capital markets; discrepancies would trigger evidence-based review by the commissioner.
Risk Doesn't Disappear, It Gets Allocated
Q: How does the Insurance Commissioner's office translate mitigation into measurable outcomes for ratepayers and homeowners?
The goal is to motivate risk reduction through policy, pricing and regulatory incentives, ensuring that mitigation efforts are recognized in pricing, and that consumer protections and solvency are preserved.
Jane Kim and California's Insurance "Hostage Situation"
Q: Practically, how would you implement a single state catastrophe model and integrate it with private market pricing?
A single state-built model would guide investments and be used alongside private pricing, with the aim of reducing risk and ensuring alignment of incentives toward prevention.

Audience Metrics

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Frequently Asked Questions About Risky Science Podcast

What is Risky Science Podcast about and what kind of topics does it cover?

The conversations center on the evolving science of predicting and pricing risk across natural and human-made perils, with a strong emphasis on how data, models, and markets intersect finance, insurance, and policy. Across episodes, topics span from private credit, liquidity, and asset allocation for insurers, to catastrophe modeling and risk transfer through ILS and prediction markets; to the use of Bayesian methods, uncertainty quantification, and AI in epidemic, wildfire, and climate-risk contexts. A notable thread is the push for more transparent, interoperable models, real-time data, and scenario-based thinking to price tail risks, improve underwriting, and inform policy. What stands out is the blend of academic rigor, industry pragmat... more

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Which podcasts are similar to Risky Science Podcast?

These podcasts share a similar audience with Risky Science Podcast:

1. InsTech - insurance & innovation with Matthew Grant & Robin Merttens
2. Odd Lots
3. Planet Money
4. All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg
5. Freakonomics Radio

How many episodes of Risky Science Podcast are there?

Risky Science Podcast launched a year ago and published 52 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on Risky Science Podcast?

Recent guests on Risky Science Podcast include:

1. Andrew Granato
2. Pranjal Dahl
3. Professor Chan
4. Jane Kim
5. Ben Allen
6. Ziggy Lubkowski
7. Carmi Margalit
8. Karen Clark

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