Natural catastrophes attract regularly the attention of media and have become a source of public concern. From a financial viewpoint, natural catastrophes represent idiosyncratic risks,diversifiable at the world level. But for reasons analyzed in this pap er reinsurance markets are unable to...

We investigate the suitability of securitization as an alternative to reinsurance forthe purpose of transferring natural catastrophe risk. We characterize the conditionsunder which one or the other form of risk transfer dominates using a setting in whichreinsurers and traders in financial...