positive relation between self-insurance and state taxes is detected, consistent with consumers opting to self-insure rather … demand is largely inelastic, e.g., automobile liability coverage, taxes do not affect self-insurance …

This paper investigates the incentive effects of automobile insurance, compulsory insurance laws, and no … 1970-1998, a period in which many states adopted compulsory insurance regulations and/or no-fault laws. Using an … instrumental variables approach, we find evidence that automobile insurance has moral hazard costs, leading to an increase in …

This paper analyzes the impact of rate regulation on the structure of insurance markets for private passenger … automobile insurance. The paper argues that states' restrictions on automobile insurers' rates of return will distort the …

Massachusetts that the demand for auto insurance is highly price elastic. This implies that regulation induced price rollbacks (such … lack of fairness arises because, although auto insurance costs rose sharply in the 1980s, most buyers of auto insurance … positively correlated with the level of insurance premium. This result is consistent both with the view that voting behavior is …

Natural catastrophes often have catastrophic risks on insurance companies as well as on the insured. Using a very large … dataset on homeowners' insurance coverage by state, by firm, and by year for the 1984 to 2004 period, this paper documents the … "blockbuster catastrophes." Insurers adapt to these catastrophic risks by raising insurance rates, leading to lower loss ratios …

State guaranty funds are quasi-governmental agencies that provide insurance to policyholders against the risk of … insurance company failure. But insurance provided by guaranty funds, like all insurance, creates moral hazard problems … insurance companies to borrow money (i.e., from policyholders). Moreover, the existence of guaranty fund insurance enables …

Home equity insurance policies, policies insuring homeowners against declines in the price of their homes, would bear … some resemblance both to ordinary insurance and to financial hedging vehicles. A menu of choices for the design of such … insurance company in effect serves as a retailer to homeowners of short positions in real estate futures markets or of put …