Orderings of interdependence among random variables are useful in many economic contexts, for example, in assessing ex post inequality under uncertainty; in comparing multidimensional inequality; in valuing portfolios of assets or insurance policies; and in assessing systemic risk. We explore...

Financial engineering offers the potential to significantly reduce the consumption fluctuations faced by individuals, households, and firms. Yet much of this potential remains unfulfilled. This paper studies the adoption of an innovative rainfall insurance product designed to compensate...

Most theories of risky choice postulate that a decision maker maximizes the expectation of a Bernoulli (or utility or similar) function. We tour 60 years of empirical search and conclude that no such functions have yet been found that are useful for out-of-sample prediction. Nor do we find...

The financial and the insurance markets are increasingly penetrating each other, accounting for the fact that insurers are more and more often seen as major institutional investors of capital markets. The capital market offers a range of new opportunities, although it is not devoid of faults,...

The changing social, financial and regulatory frameworks, such as an increasingly aging society, the current low interest rate environment, as well as the implementation of Solvency II, lead to the search for new product forms for private pension provision. In order to address the various...

Die Arbeit untersucht die Anreize von CDO-Managern hinsichtlich der Auswahl der einem Poolzugrunde liegenden Forderungen und identifiziert Anreizkonflikte zwischen diesen und den Investorender unterschiedlich subordinierten Tranchen. Es wird aufgezeigt, dass CDO-Managerunabh¨angig von ihrer...

We consider nancial positions belonging to the Banach lattice of bounded measurable functionson a given measurable space. We discuss risk measures generated by general acceptance sets allowingfor capital injections to be invested in a pre-specied eligible asset with an everywhere positive...

Limited liability creates a conict of interests between policyholders and shareholders ofinsurance companies. It provides shareholders with incentives to increase the risk of theinsurer's assets and liabilities which, in turn, might reduce the value policyholders attach toand premiums they are...

Traditionally, insurers are seen as stabilisers of financial markets that act countercyclically by buying assets whose price falls. Recent studies challenge this view by providing empirical evidence of procyclicality. This paper sheds new light on the underlying reasons for these opposing views....

A deferred annuity typically includes an option-like right for thepolicyholder. At the end of the deferment period, he may either choose toreceive annuity payouts, calculated based on a mortality table agreed to atcontract inception, or receive the accumulated capital as a lump sum.Considering...