IN THE NEWS
The $2 Trillion Home Insurance Nightmare Is Getting Even Worse
January 15, 2025
It’s “There are many parallels to the 2008 crisis here,” Susan Crawford, senior fellow in the Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of Charleston: Race, Water, and the Coming Storm, said in the webinar with Burt. “But this time the toxic mortgages are permanent, in essence — these houses are not going to bounce back.”
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Why Los Angeles Burned
February 13, 2025
As insurance costs soar, more homeowners may struggle to keep up with mortgage payments, risking widespread defaults. What will that do to the real-estate market in Los Angeles? “All the state’s efforts so far — raising money to support the FAIR Plan, sending money in for cleanup, making it easier for insurance companies to charge more — are aimed at mopping up the debris and keeping the mortgage machine going,” says climate-finance writer Susan Crawford. “The shell game is ending.” ​
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We Will All Be Paying For L.A.’s Wildfires
January 14, 2025
It’s a predicament that will likely soon occur all over the country. When state last-resort insurance programs can’t afford to cover mounting climate disasters, the recovery costs will be shifted from insurers to the general public, with potentially disastrous consequences. “These states are putting our national economy at risk,” says Susan Crawford, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace.
With Housing Safety And Affordability At Stake, Experts Share Ideas
January 14, 2025
Susan Crawford, senior fellow in the Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, just published the paper, “Flood Insurance Reform for the U.S. Housing and Mortgage Market,” that offers proposals on insurance and mortgages for a more resilient housing market.
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Nobody’s insurance rates are safe from climate change
January 14, 2025
A new paper by Susan Crawford and Daevan Mangalmurti at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace makes several recommendations for reducing flood risks. These include ensuring that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, can complete its Future of Flood Risk initiative to more accurately reflect real flood dangers, that real estate agencies and financial institutions be required to inform prospective homebuyers of expected public flood insurance premiums, and that obtaining flood insurance becomes an opt-out element of obtaining a mortgage in order to broaden the pool of National Flood Insurance Program policyholders.
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The home insurance crisis can’t be fixed with money alone
January 14, 2025
Wildfires aren’t the only problem. Realistically pricing the risk posed by floods and fires could wipe nearly $3 trillion off the $46 trillion value of the US housing market, research published today by Susan Crawford, senior climate fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, concluded.
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Federal flood insurance program needs long-term fix, experts say
January 14, 2025
"I remain optimistic that leadership emerges, and that if you really care about government efficiency and avoiding government waste, you would want to reform NFIP, and you wouldn't want to get rid of it. You'd want to make it function," said Susan Crawford, senior fellow in the Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, speaking in a January 10 briefing hosted by the Global Strategic Communications Council, a global group addressing climate, energy and nature issues.
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Nobody’s insurance rates are safe from climate change
January 15, 2025
A new paper by Susan Crawford and Daevan Mangalmurti at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace makes several recommendations for reducing flood risks. These include ensuring that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, can complete its Future of Flood Risk initiative to more accurately reflect real flood dangers, that real estate agencies and financial institutions be required to inform prospective homebuyers of expected public flood insurance premiums, and that obtaining flood insurance becomes an opt-out element of obtaining a mortgage in order to broaden the pool of National Flood Insurance Program policyholders.
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Los Angeles Fires Poised to Become Most Costly Disaster in U.S. History
January 11, 2025
Susan Crawford, a climate and geopolitics specialist, emphasized the urgent need for systemic adjustments to address the growing threat of climate change. “The acceleration in ferocious weather events… should trigger awareness that actually things do need to change,” Crawford stated.​
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LA Wildfires Poised to Become Costliest Disaster in US History, Here Is The Estimated Loss
January 11, 2025
Susan Crawford, a climate and geopolitics expert, emphasized the urgent need for political and structural adjustments to address the accelerating frequency and severity of extreme weather events. “The acceleration in ferocious weather events should trigger awareness that actually, things do need to change,” she stated.​
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Los Angeles fires could be the costliest disaster in US history; to cost nearly $150 billion
January 11, 2025
To attract insurers back to the market, Commissioner Lara has initiated reforms allowing companies to raise premiums, provided they do not apply geographical exclusions. Susan Crawford, a climate and geopolitics expert, emphasised the need for political adjustments in response to rapid climate change. "The acceleration in ferocious weather events... should trigger awareness that actually things do need to change," she said.​
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Devastating LA fires expected to push up insurance premiums
January 10, 2025
There is no longer any question of "cherry-picking" to select the best contracts, said Susan Crawford, an expert on climate and geopolitics at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.​
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Mortgage Regulators Are Shrugging Off Climate Risk. It Could Cost Taxpayers Billions.
December 7, 2024
Unexpectedly large losses could undermine Fannie’s and Freddie’s profits and threaten their ability to keep the mortgage market liquid, said Susan Crawford, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who wrote a book last year about the impact of sea-level rise in Charleston, S.C.​
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Companies are reshaping operations to cope with a changing climate
July 25, 2024
“The effect of extreme weather events and rapid climate change on businesses’ operations is slowly coming onto radar screens around the country. But it’s a slow evolution. I think the extreme weather events we’re seeing this summer are speeding up the intellectual uptake,” said Susan Crawford, a Harvard Law School professor..​
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Miami and New Orleans face greater sea-level threat than already feared
April 10, 2023
“What is likely to happen in Charleston is likely, absent a substantial shift in attitude, to happen in many other coastal cities around the globe,” wrote Susan Crawford, author of Charleston: Race, Water, and the Coming Storm.​
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Salon.com: Big Telecom Companies are Suppressing Fast Internet
April 7, 2019
T​he internet is an ethereal concept. The language we use to describe it contributes to that etherealness: we speak of servers being in "the cloud," as though they were weightless in heaven, and most if not all of our internet access happens wirelessly. Yet even if the last kilometer of this article’s journey happened through the wireless ether, the rest of its path from my computer to servers to you was achieved via wires. And even as our dependence on wireless internet grows — as we fill our house with wi-fi–enabled smart devices that communicate with servers all over the world — the need for wires undergirding that system grows exponentially. . . .
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Maine Public Radio: Fiber Optic — The Power and Potential of Fiber Optics To Transform Communities
March 13, 2019
Susan Crawford explains how giant corporations in the United States have held back the infrastructure improvements necessary for the country to move forward, and she describes how a few cities and towns are fighting to bring the fiber optic revolution to their communities.
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NPR's All Things Considered: The Race Is On For 5G Communications — And China Is In The Lead
March 11, 2019
The Chinese telecom giant Huawei is winning the race to build 5G networks worldwide. NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with Harvard Law professor Susan Crawford about why that's a national security threat.
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Business Insider: Harvard's Susan Crawford Explains the Import of Universal Fiber Access
March 09, 2019
The biggest tech problem facing the US is that it doesn't have universal access to super-fast fiber-optic internet connections, according to Susan Crawford, a telecommunications expert who is a professor at Harvard Law School. Crawford details the promise of such a network - and the dangers the US faces if it doesn't deploy one - in a new book.
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Monopolistic Internet Market Causing America to Fall Behind
Feb 23, 2019
One of the promises then-candidate Trump made on the campaign trail was a big infrastructure spending package. This initiative is something he is still pursuing, but it is uncertain what it may include, and whether an extremely important infrastructure puzzle-piece — a high-speed fiber optic internet for all — will be included...
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NBC News: Race is on for Global 5G Dominance — and Trump is Cheering From the Sidelines
Feb 22, 2019
President Donald Trump on Thursday brought renewed national attention to what has emerged as one of the most hotly debated technological and geopolitical challenges — the race to build a next-generation 5G wireless internet network.
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Boston's NPR: Is America Missing The Future Of The Internet?
Feb 13, 2019
The world of fiber optics is expanding the reach and power of the internet — and has the potential to revolutionize our homes and businesses. Fiber optics carry virtually unlimited amounts of data and will radically transform health care, education, stores and the way our cities and town are run. But, Harvard Law School Professor Susan Crawford argues it's a tech revolution that America is at risk of missing.
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On My Mind with Diane Rehm: The Price Of America’s Poor Internet Connection (Podcast)
Feb 5, 2019
The United States prides itself on being a country of innovation. But in the land that built the internet, our ability to get access to high speed quality service is not on par with other countries in Europe and Asia. Harvard law professor Susan Crawford says as the country slips further behind, we jeopardize our place as a leader in the tech revolution.
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The Verge Podcast: How America’s Internet Connectivity Issues are Holding the Country Back
Jan 31, 2019
Bloomberg's podcast features Susan Crawford, Harvard Law professor and former Special Asst. for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy during the Obama administration, discusses her new book, "FIBER: The Coming Tech Revolution—And Why America Might Miss It."
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Bloomberg: America Is Lagging In The 5G Race
Jan 28, 2019
Harvard Law School professor Susan Crawford explains how America’s internet connectivity issues and corrosive infrastructure are holding the country back and how we can rally to fix it. She and Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel also discuss the Huawei scandal, politicians’ roles in improving broadband internet, and her new book Fiber: The Coming Tech Revolution—and Why America Might Miss It.
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WGBH News: Susan Crawford On How The US Is Already Behind On The Fiber Optic Movement
Jan 15, 2019
The internet revolution changed American political, social and cultural life. But as Harvard Law School professor and author Susan Crawford argues, the United States is still far behind other countries in taking that change to the next level, with a nationwide fiber optic network similar to other public utilities. As a result, we are missing out on upgrades in our education system, civic life and economy that we need to truly compete in the 21st century.
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KERA News Interview: Fiber Networks for Economic Growth And Social Justice
Jan 14, 2019
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"Leaving internet infrastructure to the private market has left people behind, and put the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage with countries that have built fiber networks. 'The entire country is getting bossed around by about five big companies: Comcast, Spectrum, AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink,' Crawford says.
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Inside Higher Ed: 'Fiber' Is a Wakeup Call to our Digital Learning Community
Jan 13, 2019
We should be appalled that a 21st the infrastructure of fiber internet is so poorly developed in our country. Fiber is to this century as electricity was to the last. Just as electrification was the critical infrastructure to create the modern economy of the early 20th century, gigabit internet is the infrastructure that we need today.
How involved is our digital learning community in the fight for universal fiber?
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LATimes: 5G will be the next revolution in global communications, but the U.S. may be left behind
Jan 9, 2019
"Although she’s an expert in telecommunications policy, Crawford was stunned at what she witnessed in Korea, which she describes as “the most wired nation on the planet” — flawless cellphone coverage even in rural areas, real-time data transmission, driverless buses using the latest communications technology to smoothly avoid pedestrians and evade obstructions. 'I’ve never been embarrassed to be American before,' Crawford told me recently. 'But when Korean people tell you that going to America is like taking a rural vacation, it really makes you stop and worry about what we’re up to.'"
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SCIENCE: Faster, Cheaper, and More Versatile Than Traditional Telecom Hardware, U.S. Fiber Networks Still Face Policy Hurdles
Jan 8, 2019
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“A damning indictment, grounded in facts, and a critically important story…. Even for those familiar with the subject, Fiber offers a number of valuable insights…. Crawford is at her best when describing the astonishingly innovative organizational setups of community-based fiber initiatives and how they came about, when detailing the machinations of telecom incumbents and their lobbyists to cripple these initiatives, and when explaining how local champions of fiber have sometimes been able to neutralize attempts to derail them.”
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BOING BOING: Susan Crawford on How America's Wired Future is Slipping Away
Jan 8, 2019
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“A timely and urgent look at how America is sacrificing its digital future, productivity, connectivity, social mobility, entrepreneurial growth, education, and every other public good, thanks to rapacious telcos, scumbag lobbyists, and negligent, cash-hungry politicians….You should be reading this.”
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WIRED: How Corning Makes Super-Pure Glass for Fiber-Optic Cable
Jan 8, 2019
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To make glass that's pure enough for fiber-optic cable, you cannot just melt sand. Instead you send gas traveling through flames to create glass soot particles that are deposited on a rod in a controlled pattern. Susan Crawford gets to the heart of how fiber-optic cables are made in this excerpt from her book FIBER.
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Can America Really Have High Speed Internet for All?
Jan 8, 2019
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If this country really has ambitions of having a 5G revolution like the one being talked about the Consumer Electronics Show this week, we need something else first. Fiber optic connections that reach everyone. Susan sat down for an interview with WNYC's The Takeaway.
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New York Journal of Books: Review of Fiber
Jan 8, 2019
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“If more and more actors enjoy fiber access, will the Internet be mainly a tool of the rich and powerful or will it level the playing field, an instrument of asymmetric warfare?”
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Publisher's Weekly: Fiber - The Coming Tech Revolution and Why America Might Miss It
Oct 29, 2018
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A little fiber will go a long way, according to this book’s plan for improving access to healthcare, education, and transit—and for combating inequality—in the U.S., which posits that “all the policies important to us as a country... depend on having last-mile fiber and advanced wireless services available cheaply to everyone.”
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Harvard Gazette: Paving the Way for Self-Driving Cars
Jan 3, 2019​
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"The day will come, if it hasn’t already, when you’ll be riding down the road, glance to the side, and see a car motoring along with no driver. Autonomous vehicles are on the way, and two Harvard initiatives are helping to prepare Boston, and beyond, for their smooth arrival."
NYT: How the Government Could Win the AT&T-Time Warner Case
June 5, 2018
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“What Trump expressed in the campaign is the feeling of the American people that five companies have too much control,” said Ms. Crawford, author of “Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age.” The case “raises issues that hit both American pocketbooks and ideals.”
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Washington Post: With Facebook on the Ropes, Internet Providers Seek to Press Their Advantage in Washington
April 10, 2018
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The disarray and tumult afflicting the tech industry is an opportunity for Internet providers to gain a bigger foothold with policymakers, according to Susan Crawford, a Harvard University law professor. “Charter is using the current kerfuffle over Facebook to divert any regulatory energy that might have been heading its way towards Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google,” Crawford said.
Crawford Mentioned in The Oregonian's Guest Opinion on Net Neutrality
December 17, 2017​
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“As pointed out by Harvard Law Professor Susan Crawford, five American companies account for more than 80 percent of wired internet subscriptions nationally and have almost total power in their territories. According to the federal agency’s own data, most Americans have only one choice for high-speed internet. Therefore, marketplace competition will not be galloping to their rescue.”
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If Net Neutrality is Repealed, What Will It Mean for People Who Don't Have Broadband Yet?
December 8, 2017
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In this WGBH special, Harvard Law Professor Susan Crawford explains that small towns will lose key leverage once the FCC’s new rules go into effect. “Through saying, ‘Look, come and build this network for us. But you can only build it by providing equal service to everybody in town and at a low price,’ that’s how that particular direction is being carried out in Massachusetts,” Crawford said. But she said towns may not be able to do that anymore.
Diane Rehm: An About Face on Net Neutrality, Then, How President Trump is Reshaping the Judiciary
December 1, 2017
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Harvard Law Professor Susan Crawford on the risks of the FCC’s plan to do away with net neutrality rules and why she believes the agency should be focused instead on ensuring that all Americans have access to cheap, world class internet access. Then, Charlie Savage of the New York Times on how President Trump is reshaping the U.S. judiciary.
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NYT: Washington Has Delivered a Tangled Message on AT&T's Power
November 21, 2017
In a matter of hours this week, the Trump administration twice weighed in on one of the central issues shaping business and society today — just how much market power big companies should be allowed to amass. Yet in back-to-back developments, two federal agencies arrived at starkly different conclusions, and one company, AT&T, found itself on opposite sides of the debate…“The F.C.C. is saying that they’re going to give up any legal authority over regulating high-speed internet,” said Susan Crawford, a professor at Harvard Law School….
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Video from Media Working Group: Why We Might Be More Captive Today
November 21, 2017
In a matter of hours this week, the Trump administration twice weighed in on one of the central issues shaping business and society today — just how much market power big companies should be allowed to amass. Yet in back-to-back developments, two federal agencies arrived at starkly different conclusions, and one company, AT&T, found itself on opposite sides of the debate…“The F.C.C. is saying that they’re going to give up any legal authority over regulating high-speed internet,” said Susan Crawford, a professor at Harvard Law School….​
NYT: HOW THE GOVERNMENT COULD WIN THE AT&T-TIME WARNER CASE
May 31, 2018
“What Trump expressed in the campaign is the feeling of the American people that five companies have too much control,” said Ms. Crawford, author of “Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age.” The case “raises issues that hit both American pocketbooks and ideals.”
WASHINGTON POST: WITH FACEBOOK ON THE ROPES, INTERNET PROVIDERS SEEK TO PRESS THEIR ADVANTAGE IN WASHINGTON
April 10, 2018
The disarray and tumult afflicting the tech industry is an opportunity for Internet providers to gain a bigger foothold with policymakers, according to Susan Crawford, a Harvard University law professor. “Charter is using the current kerfuffle over Facebook to divert any regulatory energy that might have been heading its way towards Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google,” Crawford said.
CRAWFORD MENTIONED IN THE OREGONIAN’S GUEST OPINION ON NET NEUTRALITY
December 16, 2017
“As pointed out by Harvard Law Professor Susan Crawford, five American companies account for more than 80 percent of wired internet subscriptions nationally and have almost total power in their territories. According to the federal agency’s own data, most Americans have only one choice for high-speed internet. Therefore, marketplace competition will not be galloping to their rescue.”
IF NET NEUTRALITY IS REPEALED, WHAT WILL IT MEAN FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’T HAVE BROADBAND YET?
December 8, 2017
In this WGBH special, Harvard Law Professor Susan Crawford explains that small towns will lose key leverage once the FCC’s new rules go into effect. “Through saying, ‘Look, come and build this network for us. But you can only build it by providing equal service to everybody in town and at a low price,’ that’s how that particular direction is being carried out in Massachusetts,” Crawford said. But she said towns may not be able to do that anymore.
DIANE REHM: AN ABOUT FACE ON NET NEUTRALITY, THEN, HOW PRESIDENT TRUMP IS RESHAPING THE JUDICIARY
December 1, 2017
Harvard Law Professor Susan Crawford on the risks of the FCC’s plan to do away with net neutrality rules and why she believes the agency should be focused instead on ensuring that all Americans have access to cheap, world class internet access. Then, Charlie Savage of the New York Times on how President Trump is reshaping the U.S. judiciary.
NYT: WASHINGTON HAS DELIVERED A TANGLED MESSAGE ON AT&T’S POWER
November 21, 2017
In a matter of hours this week, the Trump administration twice weighed in on one of the central issues shaping business and society today — just how much market power big companies should be allowed to amass. Yet in back-to-back developments, two federal agencies arrived at starkly different conclusions, and one company, AT&T, found itself on opposite sides of the debate…“The F.C.C. is saying that they’re going to give up any legal authority over regulating high-speed internet,” said Susan Crawford, a professor at Harvard Law School….
November 21, 2017
In a matter of hours this week, the Trump administration twice weighed in on one of the central issues shaping business and society today — just how much market power big companies should be allowed to amass. Yet in back-to-back developments, two federal agencies arrived at starkly different conclusions, and one company, AT&T, found itself on opposite sides of the debate…“The F.C.C. is saying that they’re going to give up any legal authority over regulating high-speed internet,” said Susan Crawford, a professor at Harvard Law School….