The Economics Of Life Insurance

The theory of insurance is presented in this book, discussed from the viewpoint of the theory of economics of uncertainty. The principle of premium calculation which the book uses is based on economic equilibrium theory and differs from many of the premium systems discussed by actuaries.Reinsurance is developed in the framework of general economic equilibrium theory under uncertainty. Here ordering of risks, preferences and utility theory play an important role. The book discusses the markets for insurance and divides them into three classes: (i) life insurance (ii) business insurance and (iii) household insurance, and these classes are each treated extensively in three separate chapters. Finally uninsurable risks are presented under "asymmetric information". Here moral hazard and adverse selection are treated and illustrations are given, some based on game theory.

An authoritative and comprehensive graduate textbook on the modern insurance sector The traditional role of insurers is to insure idiosyncratic risk through products such as life annuities, life insurance, and health insurance. With the decline of private defined benefit plans and government pension plans around the world, insurers are increasingly taking on the role of insuring market risk through minimum return guarantees. Insurers also use more complex capital management tools such as derivatives, off-balance-sheet reinsurance, and securities lending. Financial Economics of Insurance provides a unified framework to study the impact of financial and regulatory frictions as well as imperfect competition on all insurer decisions. The book covers all facets of the modern insurance sector, guiding readers through its complexities with empirical facts, institutional details, and quantitative modeling. An up-to-date textbook for graduate students in economics, finance, and insurance Covers a broad range of topics, including insurance pricing, contract design, reinsurance, portfolio choice, and risk management Provides promising new directions for future research Can be taught in courses on asset pricing, corporate finance, industrial organization, and public economics An invaluable resource for policymakers seeking an empirical and institutional account of today’s insurance sector

This current, accurate and detailed industry guide for financial service professionals examines life and health insurance simultaneously from the viewpoints of the buyer, the advisor, and the insurer--providing a comprehensive and unbiased treatise on individual and group life; a forthright appraisal of life and health insurance industry products with careful consideration of the environment; and a complete examination of life insurance company operations and regulation. Bases financial treatment of life insured operations on modern financial theory, and devotes entire chapters to the economics of life and health insurance; individual life and health insurance policies; life and health insurance evaluation; the uses of life and health insurance in personal and business planning; government and employee benefit plans; and the management, operation, and regulation of life insurance companies. Offers a strong global orientation, supporting fundamental concepts with an extensive integration of economic and financial theory and international comparisons, and examines how today's health insurance products fit into a broad framework from a contractual, cost, and performance viewpoints. New chapters on the tax treatment of life and health insurance address such areas as estate planning, retirement planning, and the business uses of life and health insurance. For financial planners, salesmen, actuaries, investment managers, attorneys, CPAs, and other financial service professionals.

Life insurance—the promise of an insurer to pay a sum upon a person's death in exchange for a regular premium—is a bizarre enterprise. How can we monetize human life? Should we? What statistics do we use, what assumptions do we make, and what behavioral factors do we consider? First published in 1979, Morals and Markets Is a pathbreaking study exploring the development of life insurance in the United States. Viviana A. Rotman Zelizer combines economic history and a sociological perspective to advance a novel interpretation of the life insurance industry. The book pioneered a cultural approach to the analysis of morally controversial markets. Zelizer begins in the mid-nineteenth century with the rise of the life insurance industry, a contentious chapter in the history of American business. Life insurance was stigmatized at first, denounced in newspapers and condemned by religious leaders as an immoral and sacrilegious gamble on human life. Over time, the business became a widely praised arrangement to secure a family's future. How did life insurance overcome cultural barriers? As Zelizer shows, the evolution of the industry in the United States matched evolving attitudes toward death, money, family relations, property, and personal legacy.

This book examines the behavior of individuals at risk and insurance industry policy makers involved in selling, buying and regulation.