The purpose of this paper is to compare the cost efficiency of private and public property insurance providers in Switzerland. The most commonly used measure for this kind of exercise is the Claims / Premium ratio. We argue that this measure may give strongly biased results. We develop a simple...

This paper studies the state building insurance monopoly in Spain, the Consorcio the Compensacion de Seguros. It is shown that, just like its Swiss counterparts, the Consorcio operates with exceptionally low transactions costs. Furthermore it allows the supply of a very low cost insurance cover...

The paper studies the profit distribution and portfolio management of the Swiss National Bank in comparison with the behavior of other European central banks. It is shown that the SNB's behavior is unique in a number of respects : Relatively to the countries size, it holds the largest gold...

We argue that there is a natural trade-off between the independence and the accountability of a central bank. Economist's emphasis on the independence aspect has contributed to creating situations, where the central banks' accountability is largely deficient. Attempts to resolve this issue by...

This paper studies the evolution of hurricane insurance in Florida over the last decades. Hurricanes (and other natural catastrophes) are typically referred to as "uninsurable" risks. The more exposed property owners find it difficult to obtain insurance cover from the private market and/or can...

In a previous paper we have shown that the UBS-SBC merger would lead to an excessive concentration in the credit market for small and medium companies. The UBS has reacted to this paper in a series of letters to the Swiss competition authorities. We critically examine the content of these...