Annuity contracts transfer the risk of an individual outliving available assets to aninsurance company. Thus, the insurance company has to value and manage longterm risks. Interest rate risk and longevity risk are the two most important risks forannuity providers. In this paper, we develop a...

As early as the 1970s, European Union (EU) member countries implemented rulesto coordinate insurance markets and regulation. However, with the more recentmovement toward a general single EU market, financial services regulation hastaken on new meaning and priority. Solvency I regulations went...

Die aktuellen EU-Solvabilitätsvorschriften sind seit ihrer Einführung in den Jahren1973 (Nichtlebensversicherungen) und 1979 (Lebensversicherungsunternehmen)Gegenstand massiver Kritik.1 Ein zentraler Kritikpunkt resultiert aus derTatsache, dass sich die EU-Solvabilitätsregeln lediglich am...

Die Mindesteigenkapitalausstattung von Banken und Versicherungen unterliegteiner weitreichenden gesetzlichen Regulierung.1 Als Begründung für Eingriffedes Staates in die unternehmerische Freiheit wird im Versicherungsbereich häufigauf eine spezielle Gläubigerstellung des Versicherungsnehmers...

Motivated by a recent demographic study establishing a link betweenmacroeconomic fluctuations and the mortality index kt in the Lee-Cartermodel, we assess the impact of macroeconomic fluctuations on the solvencyof a life insurance company. Liabilities in our stochastic simulationframework are...

Longevity risk has become a major challenge for governments, individuals, andannuity providers in most countries, and especially its aggregate form, i.e. therisk of unsystematic changes to general mortality patterns, bears a large potentialfor accumulative losses for insurers. As obvious risk...

While virtually all currency crisismodels recognise that the fate of a currency peg depends onhow tenaciously policy makers defend it, they seldom model how this is done. We incorporatethemechanics of speculation and the interest rate defence against it in the model ofMorrisand Shin (American...

This paper explains a currency crisis as an outcome of a switch in how monetarypolicy and fiscal policy are coordinated. The paper develops a model of an open economy in which monetary policy starts active, fiscal policy starts passive and, in a particular state of nature, monetary policy...

Microfoundations of the euro´s effect on euro area trade hinge on the timing, thespeed and the size of adjustment in trade costs. We estimate timing, speed and sizeof adjustment in trade costs for sectoral trade data. Our approach allows for sectorspecific impacts of trade costs on sectoral...

The structure of banking systems has been frequently in the debate over a long time. A re-structuring of banking systems is very often based on the experience of other countries. Ger-man cooperative banks can learn much about the development of Italy's cooperative banks. In contradiction to the...