We explore two theories that have been advanced to explain the patterns in U.S. catastrophe reinsurance pricing. The first is that price variation is tied to demand shocks, driven in effect by changes in actuarially expected losses. The second holds that the supply of capital to the reinsurance...

This paper examines the optimal design of insurance and reinsurance policies. We first consider reinsurance for catastrophes: risks which are large for any one insurer but not for the reinsurance market as a whole. Reinsurance for catastrophes is complicated by adverse selection. Optimal...

These proceedings, based on a conference held in November 2004 at OECD in Paris, present leading academic analysis as well as government and private sector information and experience-sharing on how governments and the financial and insurance sectors can deal with losses caused by terrorism,...