We analyse the effect of abolishing gender-based categorisation of risks on the pricing of annuity contracts. Under the absence of screening activities, we find clear evidence of insurers expecting strong adverse selection effects. In particular, most of the unisex contracts’ payouts closely...

Üblicherweise werden Unsicherheiten bei Bevölkerungsprognosen mit Hilfe der Szenarientechnik abgebildet. Unter Annahme von begründeten Szenarienparametern, die eine gewisse Bandbreite von zukünftig zu erwartenden demographischen Raten (Geburten- und Sterberaten, Nettomigration) abdecken,...

The aim of this paper is to decompose cross-national differences in self-reported general health into parts explained by differences in "true" health, measured by diagnosed conditions and measurements, and parts explained by cross-cultural differences in response styles. The data used were drawn...

Despite large potential gains, international equity investment is less diversified across countries than predicted by the international version of the traditional capital asset pricing model (ICAPM). This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of capital market frictions on...

This paper presents selected highlights drawn from the German SAVE surveys in 2001 and 2003, expanding the findings of Börsch-Supan and Essig (2003) along three lines. First, it analyses the households' assessment of their general, economic and financial well-being in the past, present and...

This study investigates the determinants of changes in corporate ownership nd firm failure,taking into ccount di fferent types of sellers and buyers of control blocks. For large panel of German corporations we find that firms are more likely to fail or to be sold when performance is...

This research investigates the relationship between private religious involvement, measured by the individual’s frequency of prayer, and various dimensions of older adults’ physical and mental health in nine European countries. Using data from the 2004 ‘Survey of Health, Ageing and...