Who benefits and who loses from flood risk reduction?

The distributional effects of investment for the reduction of flood risk are explored, with the UK as an example. Using three case studies, we initially investigate the 'gainers' and the 'losers' from three contrasting engineering-oriented flood alleviation and land drainage schemes, the results of which appear to show that property owners at risk of flooding were the gainers and the general flood-free taxpayer was the loser. An analysis of flood damages, however, shows that those losing work from repairing or replacing flood damaged goods are a primary loser group as risk is reduced. Investigating insurance cover for flooding (near-universal in the UK) also shows that the principal real gainers appear to be insurance companies and their shareholders, since premiums generally do not appear to fall as risk is reduced. The implication of these novel results are evaluated both for the UK and, briefly, for elsewhere in the world.