Second, call me contrary, but I have yet to see a fundamental reason for not being both vigilant of and invested in this remarkably resilient asset class.
Aviva's "pay as you drive" policy, which means heavy car users pay higher premiums than those who drive for short distances, is one example; another is the way in which insurers make assets more resilient to risk after they have had to pay out.
"The resilient nature of airport assets, MAP's exposure to significant growth from low-cost airlines, focus on cost-cutting and an expected recovery in traffic all conspire to to fuel a rebound in MAP's fortunes," writes Deutsche Bank analyst Clinton Wood in an end-of-April report.
In the long term Morgan Stanley expects agricultural commodities to be more resilient than most other asset classes based on rising demand from population growth, rising living standards and alternative energy sources against constraints on arable land and clean water.
Although asset growth did rebound in the summer of 2009, "it petered out in May of 2010 and has been sliding ever since, even as equity market asset prices remained resilient and surged strongly in the first quarter of 2012," he said.
"The UK's financial sector can be both a global good and a national asset – if it is resilient.
Progressive adaptation steps, such as the use of flood-resilient building materials or locating key assets on higher ground, could actually bring risks down to below current levels.
"Emerging markets really took it on the chin last year, so it isn't that much of a shock that they have been more resilient this year," said Ben Inker, head of asset allocation at GMO, a global investment management firm.
The central thesis in this study is that group-ranch-level-driven and/or collective action-based innovations in the management of livelihood assets are more socio-ecologically resilient in comparison with household/individual-driven innovations.
