In this paper we investigate the extent to which insurance companies utilize financial derivatives contracts in the management of risks. The data set we employ allows us to observe the universe of individual insurer transactions for a class of contracts, namely, those normally thought of as...

This paper develops a financial pricing model to determine prices by line of business in a multiple line insurer subject to default risk. The model implies that it is not appropriate to allocate equity capital by line; rather, the price in a given line depends upon the overall default risk of the...

The insurance futures contracts introduced in December 1992 by the Chicago Board of Trade offer insurers an alternative to reinsurance as a hedging device for underwriting risk. These instruments have the usual features of liquidity, anonymity and low transactions costs that characterize futures...

Property-liability insurance is distributed by independent agents, who represent several insurers, and exclusive agents, who represent only one insurer. The independent agency system is known to have higher costs than the exclusive agency system. The market imperfections hypothesis attributes...

This paper presents a comparative analysis of frontier cost efficiency methodologies by applying a wide range of econometric and mathematical programming techniques to a data set consisting of 445 life insurers over the period 1988-1992. The primary objective is to provide new information on the...

Insurance guaranty funds have been adopted in all states to compensate policyholders for losses resulting from insurance company insolvencies. The guaranty funds charge flat premium rates, usually a percentage of premiums. Flat premiums can induce insurers to adopt h igh-risk strategies, a...

The paper examines efficiency and productivity of US property-liability (P-L) insurers using data envelopment analysis (DEA). We estimate pure technical, scale, cost, revenue and profit efficiency over the period 1993-2011. Insurers' adjacent year total factor productivity changes and their...

This paper reviews the most pertinent literature on the sources and uses of equity capital in the U.S. property-casualty (P-C) insurance industry. P-C insurers serve a risk management and risk bearing function in the economy. Insurers create diversified risk pools consisting of large numbers of...

This paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of the effects of no-fault automobile insurance on accident rates. As a mechanism for compensating the victims of automobile accidents, no-fault has several important advantages over the tort system. However, by restricting access to tort,...

In this paper we formulate and test a number of hypotheses regarding insurer participation and volume decisions in derivatives markets. Several specific hypotheses are supported by our analysis. We find evidence consistent with the idea that insurers are motivated to use financial derivatives to...