|
on Insurance Economics |
|
Issue of 2019‒05‒13
33 papers chosen by Soumitra K. Mallick Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management |
| By: | Congressional Budget Office |
| Abstract: | Some Members of Congress have proposed establishing a single-payer health care system in the United States to ensure that virtually everyone has health insurance. In a typical single-payer system, people enroll in a health plan operated by the government, and the receipts and expenditures associated with the plan appear in the government’s budget. This report describes the primary features of single-payer systems, and it discusses some of the design considerations and choices that policymakers will face in developing proposals for establishing such a system. |
| JEL: | I10 I11 I13 I18 |
| Date: | 2019–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:report:55150&r=all |
| By: | Tianxu Chen (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | Premiums and eligibility for health insurance may cause “marriage lock,” in which couples stay married for the sake of maintaining health insurance coverage. By using the Health and Retirement Study for adults aged 60–70, I examine whether employer-based spousal health insurance coverage discourages divorce. Diverse difference-in-difference models provide evidence of a 7 percentage points increase in the number of divorces upon achieving Medicare eligibility at age 65 for people with spousal insurance coverage relative to those without it. The estimates thus provide evidence that marriage lock exists. |
| Keywords: | Marriage Lock, Medicare, Employer-sponsored Health Insurance, Marriage Behavior |
| JEL: | J I1 D1 |
| Date: | 2019–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2019-09&r=all |
| By: | Congressional Budget Office |
| Abstract: | The federal government subsidizes health insurance for most Americans through a variety of programs and tax provisions. CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation project that the federal subsidies, taxes, and penalties associated with health insurance coverage for people under age 65 will result in a net subsidy from the federal government of $737 billion in 2019. Under current law, that annual sum is projected to reach $1.3 trillion in 2029, mostly for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and tax benefits for work-related insurance. |
| JEL: | H30 I13 I18 |
| Date: | 2019–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:report:55085&r=all |
| By: | Singh Anuj; King Michael |
| Abstract: | We employ a novel approach to investigate the reasons for a low demand for agricultural insurance. We confirm that farmers systematically undervalue agricultural insurance.First, we find that private transfers, mainly from family members, explain under-valuation of agricultural insurance. Second, membership of a farmer’s union, interpreted as a form of social capital or pro-active behaviour, explains the differential between willingness to pay (WTP) and the predicted economic value of insurance. Third, we help answer the puzzle why the most risk averse are least likely to take up agricultural insurance.We find that over-confidence holds a positive and significant relationship with WTP for agricultural insurance and interpret this as evidence that, within the context of implementation challenges and likely concerns about insurer viability, only the most confident are likely to purchase insurance. These results hold across a range of robustness checks. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture,Insurance,Risk |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2018-93&r=all |
| By: | Tianxu Chen (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | Spousal healthcare coverage can potentially cause “marriage lock” in which couples stay married for the sake of health insurance benefits. However, the “marriage lock” effect may change under healthcare reforms. In this paper, I examine the impact of the 2006 Massachusetts healthcare reform on marriage and divorce decisions. I hypothesis that the individual mandate make people stay/get married to get health insurance, while the exchange markets will the reduce people’s reliance on marriage to get health insurance. Using American Community Survey data, I find that the 2006 healthcare reform increased incentives for marriage in Massachusetts relative to neighboring states. Specifically, the reform appears to have reduced the divorce rate by 0.5 percentage point and increased the marriage rate by 1.4 percentage points. These findings provide evidence that the “marriage lock” effect exists and it changes under healthcare reforms. |
| Keywords: | Marriage Lock, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance Exchanges, Employer Sponsored Health Insurance, Marriage Behavior |
| JEL: | J I1 D1 |
| Date: | 2019–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2019-10&r=all |
| By: | Landais, Camille; Michaillat, Pascal; Saez, Emmanuel |
| Abstract: | In the United States, unemployment insurance (UI) is more generous when unemployment is high. This paper examines whether this policy is desirable. The optimal UI replacement rate is the Baily-Chetty replacement rate plus a correction term measuring the effect of UI on welfare through labor market tightness. Empirical evidence suggests that tightness is inefficiently low in slumps and inefficiently high in booms, and that an increase in UI raises tightness. Hence, the correction term is positive in slumps but negative in booms, and optimal UI is indeed countercyclical. Since there remains some uncertainty about the empirical evidence, the paper provides a thorough sensitivity analysis. |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2018–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88303&r=all |
| By: | Jessica Banthin; Keren Hendel; Ben Hopkins; Geena Kim |
| Abstract: | CBO’s new health insurance simulation model, HISIM2, is a microsimulation model, meaning that it uses individual-level input data to simulate population behavior. Beginning with the spring 2019 baseline budget projections, CBO completely revamped the way it models consumer and employer behavior; the agency also updated to new sources of individual-level input data. This paper describes the input data and the procedures for adjusting and adding to those data to form the sample used by HISIM2. The new model has been designed to use the Current Population Survey as its main |
| JEL: | H51 I10 I13 I18 |
| Date: | 2019–04–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:wpaper:55087&r=all |
| By: | Zhang, Yuehua; Cai, Qinqyin |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288085&r=all |
| By: | Cho, Whoi; Brorsen, B. Wade |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288100&r=all |
| By: | Kim, Youngjune; Yu, Jisang; Pendell, Dustin |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288092&r=all |
| By: | Bulut, Harun |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288089&r=all |
| By: | Ifft, Jennifer; Li, Wen; Raszap Skorbiansky, Sharon; Rosch, Stephanie; Zhu, John Yiran |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288102&r=all |
| By: | Che, Yuyuan; Feng, Hongli; Hennessy, David |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288081&r=all |
| By: | Gong, Xuche; Hennessey, David; Feng, Hongli |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288083&r=all |
| By: | Kropp, Jaclyn; Moss, Charles |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288101&r=all |
| By: | Thomas Boyer-Kassem (MAPP - Métaphysique allemande et philosophie pratique - Université de Poitiers); Sébastien Duchêne (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - FRE2010 - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier) |
| Abstract: | In many countries, private health insurance companies are allowed to vary their premiums based on some information on individuals. This practice is intuitively justified by the idea that people should pay the premium corresponding to their own known risk. However, one may consider this as a form of discrimination or wrongful differential treatment. Our goal in this paper is to assess whether profiling is ethically permissible in health insurance. We go beyond the existing literature in considering a wide range of parameters, be they genetic, non-genetic, or even non-medical such as age or place of living. Analyzing several ethical concerns, and tackling the difficult question of responsibility, we argue that profiling is generally unjust in health insurance |
| Keywords: | ethics,discrimination,responsibility,health profiling,health insurance |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01975451&r=all |
| By: | Laura Khoury (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Keywords: | Unemployment,Behavioural response to benefits,Insurance design |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-02057137&r=all |
| By: | Anna Denkowska; Stanis{\l}aw Wanat |
| Abstract: | The subject of the present article is the study of correlations between large insurance companies and their contribution to systemic risk in the insurance sector. Our main goal is to analyze the conditional structure of the correlation on the European insurance market and to compare systemic risk in different regimes of this market. These regimes are identified by monitoring the weekly rates of returns of eight of the largest insurers (five from Europe and the biggest insurers from the USA, Canada and China) during the period January 2005 to December 2018. To this aim we use statistical clustering methods for time units (weeks) to which we assigned the conditional variances obtained from the estimated copula-DCC-GARCH model. The advantage of such an approach is that there is no need to assume a priori a number of market regimes, since this number has been identified by means of clustering quality validation. In each of the identified market regimes we determined the commonly now used CoVaR systemic risk measure. From the performed analysis we conclude that all the considered insurance companies are positively correlated and this correlation is stronger in times of turbulences on global markets which shows an increased exposure of the European insurance sector to systemic risk during crisis. Moreover, in times of turbulences on global markets the value level of the CoVaR systemic risk index is much higher than in "normal conditions". |
| Date: | 2019–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1905.03273&r=all |
| By: | Pan, Qianyao; Sumner, Dan; Yu, Jisang |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288103&r=all |
| By: | Jara Xavier |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the role of the recently introduced unemployment insurance benefit (seguro de desempleo) in protecting incomes in case of unemployment in Ecuador. We use ECUAMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for Ecuador, to simulate entitlement to the unemployment insurance benefit and calculate its effect on household disposable income in case individuals enter unemployment.Our results show that only around a quarter of the working age population would be covered in case of unemployment. Mean net replacement rates would increase from 51.44 to 54.5 per cent whereby protection by and large still rests on market income from other household members. Unemployment insurance would reduce the risk of falling into poverty in case of unemployment and would increase household income stabilization, although to a limited extent.Due to the high levels of informality (i.e. non-affiliation to social security) and the characteristics of the unemployment insurance scheme in Ecuador, the largest gains would be concentrated among middle-aged male employees at the top of the earnings distribution.Our analysis contributes to the recent debates about designing unemployment insurance schemes in Latin America and highlights the importance of considering the relevance of self-employment and informality in the design of such schemes. |
| Keywords: | Income protection,Unemployment insurance,microsimulation |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2018-151&r=all |
| By: | Sproul, Thomas; Michaud, Clayton |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288098&r=all |
| By: | Zhang, Qiao; Wang, Ke; Li, Yue; Zuo, Xuan; Wang, Yueqin |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288099&r=all |
| By: | McFadden, Jonathan; Smith, David; Wechsler, Seth; Wallander, Steven |
| Abstract: | Drought, a recurring source of crop yield losses and crop failure, often prompts Federal natural disaster and crop insurance payments to U.S. farmers. Few ways exist to substantially reduce yield losses due to drought, although a new tool has recently become available. Drought tolerance produced using conventional breeding methods was first commercially introduced in U.S. corn hybrids in 2011. Genetically engineered (GE) drought tolerance was introduced in hybrids in 2012 but did not become broadly available until 2013. However, the vast majority of drought-tolerant (DT) corn planted in 2016 had one or more GE traits (e.g., herbicide tolerance and/or insect resistance). By 2016, 22 percent of total U.S. planted corn acreage was drought tolerant. Adoption is more concentrated in drought-prone regions of the United States, despite the hybrids’ limited abilities to protect against extreme-or-worse droughts. Significant DT corn acreage is also located in non-drought-prone regions and the broader Corn Belt. This report documents the development, adoption, and management of DT corn in the United States, emphasizing the roles of recent and frequent exposure to drought; moisture-conservation practices; GE seed traits and pricing; and irrigation. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, International Development, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersib:288289&r=all |
| By: | Schnitkey, Gary; Swanson, Krista; Paulson, Nick; Coppess, Jonathan |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288094&r=all |
| By: | Zhang, Yuehua; Turvey, Calum |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288087&r=all |
| By: | Karen Stockley |
| Abstract: | Changes to malpractice liability laws intended to decrease the liability of physicians and other medical providers have an ambiguous potential effect on overall health care spending (and the federal budget). Some providers may respond by performing fewer procedures that were undertaken mainly to avoid liability, whereas other providers may pursue more risky procedures and patients. This paper reviews the recent literature on the effect of changes in traditional liability laws on health care spending and presents new analyses of how such changes affect Medicare, Medicaid, |
| JEL: | I11 I18 H51 |
| Date: | 2019–04–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:wpaper:55104&r=all |
| By: | Landais, Camille; Michaillat, Pascal; Saez, Emmanuel |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a theory of optimal unemployment insurance (UI) in matching models. The optimal UI replacement rate is the conventional Baily-Chetty replacement rate, which solves the tradeoff between insurance and job-search incentives, plus a correction term, which is positive when an increase in UI pushes the labor market tightness toward its efficient level. In matching models, most wage mechanisms do not ensure efficiency, so tightness is generally inefficient. The effect of UI on tightness depends on the model: increasing UI may raise tightness by alleviating the rat race for jobs or lower tightness by increasing wages through bargaining. |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2018–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88304&r=all |
| By: | Tianxu Chen (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | Health care costs are high and rising in most major economies, and health savings account (HSA) is often viewed as an appealing way to contain health care costs because it can potentially solve the moral hazard spending caused by traditional health insurance. In this paper, I use the China Household Finance Survey to empirically examine the effectiveness of HSAs in containing medical expenses and reducing moral hazard. I find that HSAs that restrict the use of funds may lead enrollees to discount the value and thus spend more on health care. In addition, I find that the positive effect of HSAs on medical expenses is larger for the relatively healthier group, which may suggest that moral hazard behavior exists with regard to the use of HSA funds. The empirical estimates of the effect of HSAs on medical expenses are robust when a set of covariates are controlled, and HSA balances are instrumented using housing savings account balances. |
| Keywords: | Health savings account; medical expense; risk behavior; China |
| JEL: | I13 I12 I18 I14 J1 |
| Date: | 2019–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2019-08&r=all |
| By: | Zhao, Yuanfeng |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288084&r=all |
| By: | Jan Marcus; Simon Reif; Amelie Wuppermann; Amélie Rouche |
| Abstract: | While several studies suggest that stress-related mental health problems among school children are related to specific elements of schooling, empirical evidence on this causal relationship is scarce. We examine a German schooling reform that increased weekly instruction time and study its effects on stress-related outpatient diagnoses from the universe of health claims data of the German Social Health Insurance. Exploiting the differential timing in the reform implementation across states, we show that the reform slightly increased stress-related health problems among school children. While increasing instruction time might increase student performance, it might have adverse effects in terms of additional stress. |
| Keywords: | Stress, mental health, instruction time, G8 reform |
| JEL: | I18 I28 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1802&r=all |
| By: | Chretien, Edouard (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) - Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST)); Lyonnet, Victor (Ohio State University (OSU)) |
| Abstract: | We propose a theory of the coexistence of traditional and shadow banks. In our model, shadow banks escape the costly regulation traditional banks must comply with, but forgo deposit insurance, which traditional banks can rely upon. In a crisis, shadow banks repay their creditors by selling assets at fire-sale prices to traditional banks, which fund these purchases with insured deposits. Our model is consistent with several facts from the 2007 financial crisis. The analysis implies an increase in traditional banks' debt capacity leads to an increase in the relative size of the shadow banking sector. |
| JEL: | E32 E44 E61 G01 G21 G23 G38 |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:ohidic:2019-11&r=all |
| By: | Borman, Julia; Vergara, Oscar; Desnoyers, Andrew |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2019–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc019:288088&r=all |
| By: | Segura Velez, Anatoli; Suarez, Javier |
| Abstract: | We characterize policy interventions directed to minimize the cost to the deposit guarantee scheme and the taxpayers of banks with legacy problems. Non-performing loans (NPLs) with low and risky returns create a debt overhang that induces bank owners to forego profitable lending opportunities. NPL disposal requirements can restore the incentives to undertake new lending but, as they force bank owners to absorb losses, can also make them prefer the bank being resolved. For severe legacy problems, combining NPL disposal requirements with positive transfers is optimal and involves no conflict between minimizing the cost to the authority and maximizing overall surplus. |
| Keywords: | Debt overhang; deposit insurance; non performing loans; optimal intervention; state aid |
| JEL: | G01 G20 G28 |
| Date: | 2019–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13718&r=all |