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on Insurance Economics |
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Issue of 2018‒06‒11
eleven papers chosen by Soumitra K. Mallick Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management |
| By: | Canta, Chiara; Cremer, Helmuth |
| Abstract: | We study the design of public long-term care (LTC) insurance when the altruism of informal caregivers is uncertain. We consider non-linear policies where the LTC benefit depends on the level of informal care, which is assumed to be observable while children's altruism is not. The traditional topping up and opting out policies are special cases of ours. Both total and informal care should increase with the children's level of altruism. This obtains under full and asymmetric information. Social LTC, on the other hand, may be non-monotonic. Under asymmetric information, social LTC is lower than its full information level for the lowest level of altruism, while it is distorted upward for the higher level of altruism. This is explained by the need to provide incentives to highaltruism children. The implementing contract is always such that social care increases with formal care. |
| Keywords: | Long term care; uncertain altruism; private insurance; public insurance; topping up; opting out |
| JEL: | H2 H5 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ide:wpaper:32683&r=ias |
| By: | Amanda E. Kowalski (Cowles Foundation, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | I aim to shed light on why emergency room (ER) utilization increased following the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment but decreased following a Massachusetts policy. To do so, I unite the literatures on insurance and treatment e?ects. Under an MTE model that assumes no more than the LATE assumptions, comparisons across always takers, compliers, and never takers can inform the impact of polices that expand and contract coverage. Starting from the Oregon experiment as the “gold standard,” I make comparisons within Oregon and extrapolate my ?ndings to Massachusetts. Within Oregon, I ?nd adverse selection and heterogeneous moral hazard. Although previous enrollees increased their ER utilization, evidence suggests that subsequent enrollees will be healthier, and they will decrease their ER utilization. Accordingly, I can reconcile the Oregon and Massachusetts results because the Massachusetts policy expanded coverage from a higher baseline, and new enrollees reported better health. |
| Keywords: | Compliers, Marginal treatment effect, Massachusetts health reform, Program evaluation, Treated outcome test, Untreated outcome test |
| JEL: | C1 C9 H4 I13 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2135&r=ias |
| By: | Cuong Nguyen; Ilan Noy |
| Abstract: | We measure the longer-term effect of a major earthquake on the local economy, using night-time light intensity measured from space, and investigate whether insurance claim payments for damaged residential property affected the local recovery process. We focus on the destructive Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) 2010 -2011 as our case study. Uniquely for this event, more than 95% of residential housing units were covered by insurance, but insurance payments were staggered over 5 years, enabling us to identify their local impact. We find that night-time luminosity can capture the process of recovery and describe the recovery’s determinants. We also find that insurance payments contributed significantly to the process of economic recovery after the earthquake, but delayed payments were less affective and cash settlement of claims were more effective than insurance-managed repairs in contributing to local recovery. |
| Keywords: | earthquake, recovery, disaster, insurance, light |
| JEL: | G22 Q54 R11 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7031&r=ias |
| By: | Schleicher, Michael; Klonner, Stefan; Sauerborn, Rainer; Sié, Alie; Souares, Aurélia |
| Abstract: | We investigate the properties of health insurance demand in Burkina Faso, where we offered poor households a voluntary health insurance product at half the usual price. The targeting procedure we implemented delivers a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, which identifies the price elasticity of demand for health insurance as well as associated selection effects. We find large price elasticities among urban households, whereas the demand of rural households is price-inelastic. There are important selection effects, with widowed male household heads being most price-sensitive. Correlating these heterogeneous effects with survey data on informal transfers and health expenditures, our results suggest that informal risk-sharing largely crowds out formal insurance and that a single insurance product may fail to align with poor households' small health budgets. We find no adverse selection into health insurance. |
| Date: | 2018–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:awi:wpaper:0648&r=ias |
| By: | Jack Gettens; Pei-Pei Lei; Alexis Henry |
| Abstract: | There is wide geographic variation in Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplementary Security Income participation across the United States. |
| Keywords: | Geographic Variation, SSI, SSDI, Employment |
| JEL: | I J |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:34e9e46c5c5f4742a808f545dbfdd2c9&r=ias |
| By: | Shukkri AHMED (FERDI); Craig MCINTOSH (University of California at San Diego); Alexandros SARRIS (University of Athens) |
| Abstract: | We present the results of an experiment introducing commercial rainfall index insurance into drought-plagued farming cooperatives in Amhara State, Ethiopia. We introduce a market-priced rainfall deficit insurance product through producer cooperatives, and test a number of potential ways to kick-start private demand. Takeup of the insurance at market prices is very low, between .5% and 3% across seasons, but a low-cost promotion at baseline increases willingness to pay for multiple seasons. When we use a randomized experiment to distribute small free insurance contracts to farmers, 39% of subsidized individuals enroll but this fails to stimulate input use, yields, or income, and nor does it enhance demand in subsequent seasons. Our experience in interlinking credit with insurance shows that while serious logistical challenges need to be overcome, real demand can exist for state-contingent credit in this context. |
| Keywords: | Index Insurance, Randomized Experiments, Ethiopian Agriculture |
| JEL: | O13 G22 C93 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fdi:wpaper:4289&r=ias |
| By: | Shukkri AHMED (FERDI); Craig MCINTOSH (University of California at San Diego); Alexandros SARRIS (Université d'Athènes) |
| Abstract: | We present the results of an experiment introducing commercial rainfall index insurance into drought-plagued farming cooperatives in Amhara State, Ethiopia. We introduce a market-priced rainfall deficit insurance product through producer cooperatives, and test a number of potential ways to kick-start private demand. Takeup of the insurance at market prices is very low, between .5% and 3% across seasons, but a low-cost promotion at baseline increases willingness to pay for multiple seasons. When we use a randomized experiment to distribute small free insurance contracts to farmers, 39% of subsidized individuals enroll but this fails to stimulate input use, yields, or income, and nor does it enhance demand in subsequent seasons. Our experience in interlinking credit with insurance shows that while serious logistical challenges need to be overcome, real demand can exist for state-contingent credit in this context. |
| Keywords: | Index Insurance, Randomized Experiments, Ethiopian Agriculture |
| JEL: | O13 G22 C93 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fdi:wpaper:4288&r=ias |
| By: | Claudio Campanale (Department of Economics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino, Italy); Marcello Sartarelli (Departamento de Fundamentos del Analisis Economico, Universidad de Alicante, Spain.) |
| Abstract: | Households appear to smooth consumption in the face of income shocks much more than implied by life-cycle versions of the standard incomplete market model under reference calibrations. In the current paper we explore in detail the role played by the life-cycle profile of wealth accumulation. We show that a standard model parameterized to match the latter can rationalize between 83 and more than 97 percent of the consumption insurance against permanent earnings shocks empirically estimated by Blundell, Pistaferri and Preston (2008), depending on the tightness of the borrowing limit. |
| Keywords: | Precautionary savings, Epstein-Zin, Consumption insurance coefficients, Life-cycle. |
| JEL: | E21 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tur:wpapnw:055&r=ias |
| By: | Léa Toulemon (Département d'économie) |
| Abstract: | Cette thèse étudie deux facteurs majeurs pour le bien-être individuel, la qualité de l'emploi et l'accès aux soins. Dans le premier chapitre, nous étudions l'effet de la perte d’emploi suite à une fermeture d’usine sur un large panel d’indicateurs mesurant la qualité de l'emploi retrouvé. Nous utilisons une stratégie d’appariement exact par tranche qui prend en compte les inobservables fixes dans le temps. Nos résultats principaux montrent une dégradation de la qualité de l’emploi suite au licenciement, dont la durée et l’ampleur dépendent de la dimension considérée. Le second chapitre étudie l'impact d'une assurance maladie publique plus généreuse sur la consommation de soins de santé. Nous utilisons la coexistence de deux systèmes d'assurance maladie en France, tous deux publics et obligatoires : le système national, et le régime local d'Alsace Moselle, donc les taux de remboursement sont plus élevés. Nous évaluons comment les personnes déménageant en Alsace Moselle modifient leur consommation de soins, en utilisant les personnes déménageant entre d’autres régions françaises comme groupe de contrôle. En étudiant plusieurs postes de santé, nous trouvons qu’au total, le régime d’Alsace Moselle n’engendre pas de hausse des dépenses. Le dernier chapitre s'intéresse à l'effet de l'achat groupé sur les prix des médicaments dans les hôpitaux français, en utilisant les créations de groupements entre 2009 et 2014. Nos données contiennent les prix d’achat des médicaments innovants dans les hôpitaux publics. Nos résultats montrent que l'achat groupé baisse les prix des médicaments en oligopole, mais n'a aucun impact sur les prix des médicaments qui n'ont pas de concurrents. |
| Keywords: | Job quality; Health insurance; Inpatient drug prices |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/3018m4nhj18vvr47bolsnnqeqs&r=ias |
| By: | Tristan Kenderdine |
| Abstract: | China's agricultural support policies are moving towards market institutions through a quasi†market transition. Ten years of direct minimum purchase price procurement on agricultural commodities resulted in overcapacity, oversupply, mixed†market signals and grey†market imports. The Insurance Plus Futures (ä¿ é™© + 期货) policy pilot in agricultural price reform is a leading indicator of reform in China's agricultural production and rural finance architecture. State procurement of staple crops is now ending, and an interim governance structure is in place for the transition to market prices. This article assesses the historical institutional development of three key economic institutions in Chinese agricultural production: agricultural prices, insurance and futures. It examines government plans to move from a centrally procured to a provincially variable agricultural production model, examines the provincial sectoral target†price mechanisms constructed in 2016–2018 as interim price†setting mechanisms, looks at the emergence of government mandated agricultural insurance as a measure to cover the subsidy previously served by the minimum purchase price system and assesses the prospects for institutional development of futures contracts, commodities exchanges and price formation institutions in China. |
| Keywords: | China agriculture, futures markets, agricultural insurance, agricultural subsidies, agricultural commodities |
| Date: | 2018–05–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:appswp:201824&r=ias |
| By: | J. Guan; JdD Tena |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the causal impact of acquiring social medical Insurance on hospital utilisation and health status for children under 16 years old in China from 2010 to 2016. We consider the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), a longitudinal database which allows us to control for the effect of unobserved individual heterogeneity by means of difference-in-difference regressions combined with matching regression techniques. Our findings suggest that participating in social medical insurance schemes significantly increases children's yearly hospital use, especially for children who come from rural China. Moreover, this increase is not significantly different for people who were not previously sick. It is also found that social medical insurance schemes have no effect or even a marginally negative effect on children's health status in some cases. We discuss some potential explanations for this result. |
| Keywords: | China;Social Medical Insurance;Health Outcomes;difference-in-difference;propensity score matching |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201807&r=ias |