Abstract The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) issues model laws to promote uniformity in the US state-based insurance regulatory system. In this paper, we study the diffusion of 197 NAIC model laws, examining the adoption patterns and influencing factors. Employing a network algorithm, we uncover the underlying network over which model laws spread. The NAIC plays a central role in this network, and its influence increases over time. Additionally, we explore factors affecting states' model law adoptions from three perspectives: the laws' attributes, the states' internal ch ..read more

Abstract This study examines the impact of enterprise risk management (ERM) programs on corporate tax planning. ERM is a holistic approach to managing an enterprise's entire portfolio of risks. We hand-collect data on ERM adoption for a sample of Standard & Poor's 500 firms from 1993 to 2016. We empirically document that firms with ERM programs have lower cash effective tax rates than firms without ERM. Additionally, we find that the relation between ERM and tax avoidance is stronger among firms with more business segments. Finally, our results suggest ERM adoption offsets an increase in o ..read more

Abstract Centralized insurance can be found in both the private and public sectors. This paper provides a microeconomic study of the risk-sharing mechanisms in these markets, where multiple policyholders interact with a centralized monopolistic insurer. With minimal assumptions on the risk preferences of the market participants, we characterize Pareto optimality in terms of the agents' risk positions and their assessment of the likelihoods associated with their loss tail events. We relate Pareto efficiency in this market to a naturally associated cooperative game. Based on our theoretical resu ..read more

Abstract Premium subsidies can be used to address low demand for natural hazard insurance when it is partly caused by governmental disaster relief payments. We analyze how the introduction of ex ante premium subsidies affects the frost insurance demand of German winegrowers after the government changed insurance regimes to avoid ex post disaster relief payments. We find that the implementation of a premium subsidy in an immature market with low levels of participation, presumably caused by strong anticipation of disaster relief, is effective in increasing overall frost insurance demand. Receiv ..read more

Abstract We study the role of insurance in improving household and community disaster recovery. Our analysis harnesses both a unique survey of residents impacted by four land-falling hurricanes in the United States and foot traffic data on visits to local businesses. Households sort into two groups when it comes to financing recovery: those primarily using property insurance and those largely uninsured, instead relying more on friends and family. Insurance improves households' ability to participate in the local economy. Postflood visitation rates to many local businesses increase with greater ..read more

Abstract Despite the growing demand for long-term care (LTC), the uptake of private LTC insurance (LTCI) is low and even declining in the United States. One reason is the complexity of LTCI decisions. Researchers have therefore suggested to support decision-making abilities. This paper shows, however, that such support would not unambiguously enhance functioning of the LTCI market. We analyze whether selection arises from two correlated but different decision-making abilities at old age, education and numeracy, and interactions thereof with private information. Using historical data from the H ..read more

Journal of Risk and Insurance, Volume 91, Issue 1, Page 1-3, March 2024 ..read more

Journal of Risk and Insurance, Volume 91, Issue 1, Page 249-249, March 2024 ..read more

Abstract While the opportunity to choose from a diverse range of options can be advantageous, consumers often struggle to make optimal decisions in the domain of health insurance. In this study, we examine the effects of decision aids on improving choice optimality in a health insurance setting that allows for variations in coverage but is standardized otherwise. While this relatively simplistic setting theoretically implies optimal conditions for observing large fractions of optimal choices, we observe widespread adoption of non-welfare-maximizing plans, with at least 36% of the population wi ..read more

Abstract Risk sharing has been practiced in various forms in the financial industry. This paper is the first to study both dynamic and static risk-sharing mechanisms for a group of participants over multiple periods. The design of risk-sharing strategies is based on the Pareto optimization of quadratic utilities of participants' reserves. Such a framework builds a connection between portfolio optimization in the finance literature and that for risk sharing in the insurance literature. Building on the most common form of reinsurance—pro rata treaties, we propose a peer-to-peer (P2P) network for ..read more