Until its liberalisation in 1994 exclusive agents dominated the distribution of products in the German life insurance industry. Since then, their importance has been declining for the benefit of both distribution via direct distribution channel and independent agents. However, the market shares...

The German insurance market was liberalized in 1994 by the introduction of the "single passport" allowing European insurers to operate throughout the entire European Union. The European directive put also an end to price and insurance contract terms regulation. These measures were meant for...

This paper identifies the risk and risk-adjusted return determinants of US insurers. We find that the significant firm-specific determinants for risk and risk-adjusted return vary slightly for the risk proxy and risk-adjusted return proxy used, and the types of insurers. We find that in general,...

The paper addresses the research question of whether black boxes affect the market efficiency, particularly by reducing the level of premiums. The case analyzed is the Italian motor-vehicle insurance market, characterized by the greatest amount of black boxes in the world as a consequence of...

Insurance markets are characterized by profound market imperfections. Insurance intermediaries reduce transaction costs and information asymmetries. From transaction cost economics, agency theory, and law and economics literature the hypothesis is derived that insurance brokers may provide more...

Alliances establish a private channel of communication between allied firms in which managers can obtain useful information about future investment opportunities. I examine whether this feature of alliances hinders the market's ability to correctly assess the investment opportunities of firms in...

This paper analyzes the self-selection patterns among Mexican return migrants during the period 1990–2010. To calculate the selection patterns, we nonparametrically estimate the counterfactual wages that the return migrants would have experienced had they never migrated by using the wage...

Due to inadequate savings and binding borrowing constraints, income volatility can make households in developing countries particularly susceptible to economic hardship. We examine the role of remittances in either alleviating or increasing household income volatility using Mexican household...