Die Katastrophen-Versicherung in Spanien

This paper studies the state building insurance monopoly in Spain, the Consorcio the Compensacion de Seguros. It is shown that, just like its Swiss counterparts, the Consorcio operates with exceptionally low transactions costs. Furthermore it allows the supply of a very low cost insurance cover in a domain, where competition would usually lead to market failure due to problems of adverse selection. The existence of the Consorcio is in contradiction with the 3rd EU guidelines on the insurance market, however Spain managed to get an exemption.