A 2009 observational study reported that private insurance status is associated with decreased mortality risk compared to no insurance. Employing the same statistical model but with more recent data, we observe a weaker and statistically insignificant relationship. However, Medicaid coverage is associated with increased mortality risk; the adjusted hazard ratio for Medicaid compared to no insur...

Risk is inherent in all human activities, both personal and professional. While the number and variety of risks have grown and changed dramatically throughout history, the basics remain the same: risk of loss of life, limb, health, livelihood, or property due to predictable events (reduced income upon reaching the mandatory retirement age) or to unpredictable events (loss of life in an earthqua...

This paper reviews methods for hedging and valuation of insurance claims with an inherent financial risk, with special emphasis on quadratic hedging approaches and indifference pricing principles and their applications in insurance. It thus addresses aspects of the interplay between finance and insurance, an area which has gained considerable attention during the past years, in practice as well...

Simple income-based incentives to purchase health insurance (tax credits or deductions, or subsidies) are unlikely to succeed in significantly reducing the number of uninsured because income is not a good predictor of the extent to which individuals use medical service. Proposals to provide incentives to low-income people so they will purchase individual health insurance need to address the inh...

This paper discusses a methodology to model precipitation indices and premium prices for index-based drought insurance for smallholders. Spatial basis risk, which is borne by the insured, is a problem, especially in variable topography. Also, site-specific drought risk needs to be estimated accurately in order to offer effective insurance cover and ensure financial sustainability of the insuran...

Many experts encourage homeowners to improve their houses to better survive natural catastrophes and reduce overall societal costs. However, we find these encouragements are not necessarily financially sound for the homeowner at risk of hurricane wind damage. We find that subsidized insurance reduces the incentive for a risk-neutral homeowner to purchase structural mitigation, as mitigation doe...

We analyze the demand for hedging and insurance by a firm facing cash-flow risks. We study how the firm’s liquidity management policy interacts with two types of risk: a Brownian risk that can be hedged through a financial derivative, and a Poisson risk that can be insured by an insurance contract. We find that the patterns of insurance and hedging decisions are pole apart: cash-poor firms shou...

∑ Loans are transactions over time, with risk fi Need for insurance fi MH problems Risk: Borrower needs insurance (limited liability), as even loans for good projects cannot be repaid in bad years. But lender cannot provide insurance as he cannot monitor genuine failures from false claims ∫ Problem of enforcement. (Moral Hazard (MH) in repayment). Limited liability induces risk taking behavior ...