The indicators used in economics to calculate the productivity scale are not always positive, therefore, existing models need to be developed to calculate the productivity scale for the semi-negative and semi-positive output index. However, companies with a lack of capacity need to achieve economies of scale and demand for realization simultaneously in the presence of a negative outflow index, ...

The insurance industry needs to be regulated to protect policyholders. This is the main objective of the Solvency II directive – the new insurance regulations for the European Economic Area. In short, it requires insurance companies to act responsibly with the money they have been entrusted with. It is estimated that implementing Solvency II will cost 2-3 billion Euro. It has the potential to c...

Deregulation and widespread economic changes have fundamentally affected the business environment of European life insurance companies over the last decades. We apply multi-stage data envelopment analysis to identify the impact of the changing environment on productivity and efficiency of European life insurance companies. Considering a sample of 960 life insurance companies from 14 European co...

Ask the average person on the street why insurance companies classify risk, and you’re likely to get a blank stare in response. Even if the question is somewhat understood by those who are more knowledgeable about insurance, the response is likely to be along the line of "so that companies can exclude those people who are going to have claims." Given the kind of intense criticism that insurance...

This study investigates the firm-specific factors affecting the profitability of non-life insurance companies operating in Turkey. For this purpose, data of 24 non-life insurance companies operating in Turkey from the period 2006–2013 were brought together to obtain 192 observed panel data sets. In this study, profitability is measured by two different variables: technical profitability ratio a...

OBJECTIVE To assess the relation between the urinary concentrations of type II collagen C-telopeptide (UCTX-II) and radiographic signs of osteoarthritis (ROA) in the GARP (Genetics, Arthrosis and Progression) study. METHODS UCTX-II levels were measured in GARP study participants, who are sibling pairs predominantly with symptomatic osteoarthritis at multiple sites. Kellgren and Lawrence score...

A Dutch-supported foundation is 'exporting' private health insurance to Nigeria, selling a US$ 30 health-care package for US$ 3. Gary Humphreys reports.