This article deals with the impact of intermediaries on insurance market transparency and performance. In a market exhibiting product differentiation and coexistence of perfectly and imperfectly informed consumers, competition among insurers leads to non-existence of a pure-strategy market...

To explain the success of different distribution strategies in the life insurance industry, we analyze the performance of single- and multi-channel distribution firms in the German life insurance industry. We estimate cost and profit efficiency for three groups of life insurers: multi-channel...

We provide an experimental analysis of competitive insurance markets with adverse selection. Our parameterized version of the lemons' model (Akerlof 1970) in the insurance context predicts total crowding out of low-risks when insurers offer a single full insurance contract. The therapy proposed...

This high-stakes experiment investigates the effect on buyers of mandatory disclosures concerning an insurance policy's value for money (the claims ratio) and the seller's commission. These information disclosures have virtually no effect despite most buyers claiming to value such information....

We examine the impact of intermediation on insurance market transparency and performance. in a differentiated insurance market under imperfect information, consumers can gain information about product suitability by consulting an intermediary. We analyze current broker compensation methods:...

This article addresses the role of independent insurance intermediaries in markets where matching is important. We compare fee-based and commission-based compensation systems and show that they are payoff equivalent if the intermediary is completely honest. Allowing for strategic behavior, we...

A vast majority of insurers are regulated by each state in which they conduct business; however, a small subset of specialized firms, risk retention groups (RRGs), are largely exempt from most aspects of duplicative regulation no matter how many states they operate. This paper analyzes the...

We offer a novel explanation of underwriting volatility in property-liability insurance markets in terms of private uncertainty over public regulatory policy. Underwriting involving random losses to policyholders is one source of risk to the equity value of insurance firms. Solvency regulations,...

We attempt to analyze the VI consumers' behavior in Korean insurance market. We pointed out economic factors that affect VI demand, and confirmed VI demand increases with stock market boom, low interest rate, high price level, and stable economic situation. Also consumers who decide to purchase...

Human behavior, rational or irrational one, influences one of the most complex markets worldwide: the insurance market. In most situations, insurance markets are not competitive and risk neutral insurers negotiate under asymmetric information with actors who exhibit risk aversion. In this paper...