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on Insurance Economics |
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Issue of 2017‒07‒02
nine papers chosen by Soumitra K. Mallick Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management |
| By: | Gal Wettstein |
| Abstract: | Most Americans get their health insurance through their employer, so they may be reluctant to leave a job if such a change affects their coverage. This situation is known as “job lock,” which may be a particular concern for those with health problems. As a result, expansions of public health insurance, which are not tied to a job, could reduce job lock and result in some workers scaling back from full- to part-time work or leaving the labor force entirely. One way to estimate the effect of public health insurance on job lock is to look at policy changes that offer a “natural experiment." This brief, based on a recent paper, uses the introduction of Medicare Part D in 2006 to assess the extent to which the availability of drug coverage not tied to an employer induces older individuals to work less. The discussion proceeds as follows. The first section provides brief background on Medicare Part D. The second section describes the data and sets up the methodology. The third section shows trends in labor force activity among the elderly before and after 2006. The fourth section summarizes the main results. The final section concludes that, prior to the introduction of Part D, “job lock” was a significant concern for individuals who would otherwise have lost their employer drug insurance at age 65. While this group was a relatively modest portion of the total population of older Americans, this result does suggest that having the option of public health insurance can reduce a barrier to labor force transitions. |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:issbrf:ib2017-12&r=ias |
| By: | Noy, Ilan; Kusuma, Aditya; Nguyen, Cuong |
| Abstract: | Natural disasters have adverse consequences. A combination of effective mitigation strategies and appropriate coping measures—decreasing both exposure and vulnerability—can reduce their detrimental impact. Further policies can reduce the consequent losses to the economy in the aftermath of catastrophic events. Although constituting no panacea, the evidence suggests that insurance enables improved recovery and increases resilience. Yet, insuring catastrophic risks is complex and not easily achieved. Different types of disaster insurance products are found globally, but to narrow our discussion, we focus on two types of insurance for catastrophic hazards: earthquake insurance and agricultural insurance (for floods and droughts). We survey strategies implemented by governments, the private sector and multilateral/regional organizations that aim to address several impediments to insurance adoption and also describe the available evidence about the performance of such insurance systems in the aftermath of disaster events. We conclude with some thoughts about future research directions. |
| Keywords: | Natural disaster insurance, Natural disasters, Floods, Droughts, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vuw:vuwecf:6408&r=ias |
| By: | Lehmann-Hasemeyer, Sibylle; Streb, Jochen |
| Abstract: | Imperial chancellor Bismarck’s system of social insurance (with its three pillars health, accident and pension insurance) was an important role model for social security systems across Europe and in the US. How the introduction of the German system changed economic expectations and decisions of the German workforce has not been researched, though. This article closes this gap by analyzing the development of Prussian savings banks’ deposits in the late 19th century with the help of a difference-in-difference-like approach. We show that, in the Prussian case, social security crowded out private savings considerably. As counterfactual voluntary savings would have been far from sufficient, however, Bismarck’s social insurance system was still needed to fight the misery workers and their families potentially faced in old age or times of sickness. |
| JEL: | D14 E21 H55 N33 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ibfpps:0617&r=ias |
| By: | Elia Berdin; Matteo Sottocornola (EIOPA) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the systemic relevance of the insurance industry. We do it by analysing the systemic contribution of the insurance industry vis-á-vis other industries by applying three measures, namely the linear Granger causality test, conditional value at risk and marginal expected shortfall, to three groups, namely banks, insurers and non-financial companies listed in Europe over the last 14 years. Our evidence suggests that the insurance industry shows i) a persistent systemic relevance over time, ii) it plays a subordinate role in causing systemic risk compared to banks. In addition, iii) we do not find clear evidence on the higher systemic relevance of SIFI insurers compared to non-SIFIs. |
| Keywords: | Insurance, Systemic Risk, financial stability |
| JEL: | G22 G28 E27 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eio:thafsr:6&r=ias |
| By: | Resul Cesur; Pinar Mine Gunes; Erdal Tekin; Aydogan Ulker |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of universal, free, and easily accessible primary healthcare on population health as measured by age-specific mortality rates, focusing on a nationwide socialized medicine program implemented in Turkey. The Family Medicine Program (FMP), launched in 2005, assigns each Turkish citizen to a specific state-employed family physician who offers a wide range of primary healthcare services that are free-of-charge. Furthermore, these services are provided at family health centers, which operate on a walk-in basis and are located within the neighborhoods in close proximity to the patients. To identify the causal impact of the FMP, we exploit the variation in its introduction across provinces and over time. Our estimates indicate that the FMP caused the mortality rate to decrease by 25.6% among infants, 7.7% among the elderly, and 22.9% among children ages 1-4. These estimates translate into 2.6, 1.29, and 0.13 fewer deaths among infants, the elderly, and children ages 1-4, respectively. Furthermore, the effects appear to strengthen over time. We also show evidence to suggest that the FMP has contributed to an equalization of mortality across provinces. Finally, our calculations indicate that each family physician saves about 0.15, 0.46, and 0.005 lives among infants, the elderly, and children ages 1-4 per province every year. |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cch:wpaper:170006&r=ias |
| By: | Loriana Pelizzon; Matteo Sottocornola (EIOPA) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of the conventional and unconventional (e.g. Quantitative Easing) monetary policy intervention on the insurance industry. We first analyse the impact on the stock performances of 166 (re)insurers of the last Quantitative Easing programme launched by the ECB by constructing an event study around the announcement date. Then we enlarge the scope by looking at the monetary policy surprise effects on the same sample of (re)insurers over a timeframe of 8 years. Our evidences suggest that a single intervention extrapolated from the comprehensive strategy cannot be utilized to estimate the effect of the monetary policy intervention on the market. On the impact of monetary policies we show how the effect of interventions changes over time. The expansionary monetary policy interventions, when generating an instantaneous reduction of interest rates, had an immediate positive effect on the stock market and on the insurance industry from 2008 till 2013. However, the effect fades away in 2014-2015. This period includes the last ECB QE intervention and it is characterized by already extreme low interest rates shows statistically non-significant effects on the (re)insurers stock returns. |
| Keywords: | Insurance, monetary policy, financial stability |
| JEL: | G22 G28 E27 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eio:thafsr:8&r=ias |
| By: | Georges Karna KONE; Martine AUDIBERT (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International(CERDI)); Richard LALOU; Hervé LAFARGE; Jean-Yves LE HESRAN |
| Abstract: | Senegal opted for an antimalarial drug policy (artemisinin-based combination therapy) of partial and then full exemption from health care costs for the whole population respectively in 2008 and 2010. Has this policy reduced access inequalities in children’s health care between rich and poor households? Data were collected in Dakar between 2008 and 2009 as part of a research program on urban malaria. A survey was conducted among the population of the Dakar metropolitan area. The sample was based on a two-stage sampling. The three questionnaires used for the survey were based on validated data collection tools. Indicators were built to characterize individuals, households and neighborhoods. Bivariate analysis (chi2 test) revealed social gradients within the Dakar agglomeration and characterized health care behaviors of the poorest and richest households. Data have therefore been adjusted by a double zero-inflated Poisson model. Results show that the policy of subsidizing antimalarial drugs in Senegal has reduced health care costs, including for the poor, but without improving its distributive equity. In contrast, this policy has benefited more the richest than the poorest, without mitigating social and financial inequalities. In light of the lessons learnt by the subsidy policy for antimalarial drugs, our study recommends that universal health coverage, currently implemented in Senegal, should seek to mitigate economic inequalities in access to health care for the poorest as well as to improve the health outcomes for the whole population. |
| Keywords: | Poverty, Universal health coverage, Health financing, Urban area, Dakar. |
| JEL: | I18 I14 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1880&r=ias |
| By: | KODAMA Naomi; YOKOYAMA Izumi |
| Abstract: | Exploiting heterogeneous variations in labor cost increases due to Japan's 2003 social insurance premium reform as a natural experiment, we estimate the impacts of the increased social insurance premiums on employment, working hours, and payroll costs. Using the difference in differences (DID) method with establishment fixed effects, we find that firms reduce the number of employees and increase average annual earnings from longer working hours in response to an exogenous increase in labor costs without productivity gains. Firms manage to pay for this increase in the average wage paid to the remaining workers by reducing the number of employees to keep total payroll costs unchanged. In contrast, since social insurance premiums are shared equally between employees and employers, firms pay the remaining half of the premiums with which that they are imposed. Our results imply that an increase in labor costs without productivity gain may reduce employment. |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:17093&r=ias |
| By: | Stephanie Boraas; Grace Roemer |
| Abstract: | In this report, Mathematica used qualitative methods to address research questions related to implementation, identify factors that shaped states’ implementation experiences, and draw lessons that the grantee states and others can use to inform future approaches. |
| Keywords: | Labor, Veterans, Training and Reemployment, Unemployment Insurance |
| JEL: | J |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:ed72cf992a4745f8924e99e409ed511b&r=ias |