What shapes and drives capital market development over the long run? In this paper, using the asset portfolios of UK life assurers, we examine the role of regulation, historical contingency and political reactions to events on the long-run development of the UK capital market. Government...

Insurance in the pre-computer era : 1900-1940s -- Institutional context for information processing in early 20th century life insurance -- First impressions and first uses : insurance and tabulating, 1890-1911 -- The push towards printing : tabulating technology and insurance, 1910-1924 --...

"Standard theories of insurance, dating from Rothschild and Stiglitz (1976), stress the role of adverse selection in explaining the decision to purchase insurance. In these models, higher risk people buy full or near-full insurance, while lower risk people buy less complete coverage, if they buy...