Essays on Insurance Policyholder Behavior - A Behavioral Economics Perspective

Essays on Insurance Policyholder Behavior - A Behavioral Economics Perspective
Author: Christian Knoller
Publisher: VVW GmbH
Total Pages: 129
Release: 2013
Genre: Law
ISBN: 3862982432

Die Arbeit erscheint in englischer Sprache. Dieses Buch zeigt anhand von drei Forschungsprojekten, dass verhaltensökonomische Forschungsansätze dazu beitragen können, bisher unerklärtes Verhalten auf Versicherungsmärkten besser zu verstehen. Das erste Projekt liefert anhand einer experimentellen Untersuchung einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Lösung des in der Wissenschaft intensiv diskutierten 'Annuity Puzzle', also der Frage, warum in vielen Versicherungsmärkten nur sehr wenige Menschen private Rentenversicherung nachfragen. Anhand einer empirischen Untersuchung des Stornoverhaltens von Versicherungsnehmern für ein Variable Annuity Produkt in Japan wird gezeigt, dass die finanzwissenschaftliche Ausbildung ('Financial Literacy') des Versicherungsnehmers das Verständnis für den Wert der im Vertrag enthaltenen Optionen und damit auch das Stornoverhalten beeinflussen kann. Das dritte Projekt untersucht die Nachfrage nach Zusatzdeckung gegen Naturkatastrophenschäden anhand des Hausratversicherungsportfolios eines deutschen Versicherungsunternehmens. Viele Versicherungsnehmer scheinen ihre Gefährdung für Hochwasserschäden eher gering einzuschätzen. Die Untersuchung liefert jedoch Hinweise, dass Versicherungsvermittler in der Lage sind, die Versicherungsnehmer bei der Analyse ihrer Gefährdungssituation zu unterstützen. Die Arbeit richtet sich sowohl an Wissenschaftler als auch an Mitarbeiter in Versicherungsunternehmen, die in der Produktentwicklung oder im Risikomanagement tätig sind. Risiken aus dem Verhalten von Versicherungsnehmern, z.B. das Stornorisiko, gewinnen im Zuge von Produktinnovationen immer mehr an Bedeutung. Dies zeigt sich besonders deutlich bei der Entwicklung neuer Garantiekonzepte in der Lebensversicherung.

Insurance and Behavioral Economics

Insurance and Behavioral Economics
Author: Howard C. Kunreuther
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 343
Release: 2013-01-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0521845726

This book examines the behavior of individuals at risk and insurance industry policy makers involved in selling, buying and regulation.

Essays in Behavioral Health Economics

Essays in Behavioral Health Economics
Author: Tarso Mori Madeira
Publisher:
Total Pages: 83
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

This dissertation is composed of two chapters. Each chapter presents a study testing a theory from behavioral economics in a health economics setting using field data. The first chapter studies the role of present bias in the choice of health insurance. I analyze the consequences of a policy change that removes deadlines for enrollment in high-quality (5-star) Medicare drug coverage plans (Part D), while maintaining existing deadlines for enrollment in all other plans. Although the goals of the policy were to increase enrollment in 5-star plans and to provide incentives for insurers to improve quality, the removal of deadlines might lead to the opposite. First, rational beneficiaries might wait to enroll in 5-star plans only when a negative health event occurs, which would both decrease enrollment and increase adverse selection. Second, without deadlines, present-biased beneficiaries might procrastinate, which would also lead to a drop in enrollment, driven by an overall increase in inertia. I develop a model to examine these different hypotheses and test its predictions using Medicare administrative micro data for the period of 2009-2012. I employ a difference-in-differences design within a differentiated-product discrete-choice demand framework. My identification strategy takes advantage of the fact that the policy did not actually change enrollment rules everywhere in the United States, as most counties were not within the coverage area of a 5-star provider in 2012, the year the policy was implemented. I have three main findings. First, the policy backfires: it decreases enrollment in the Part D program by 2.55pp from a baseline of 51.76\%, and decreases average market share of 5-star plans by 1.37pp from a baseline of 7.78\%. Second, the policy does not seem to impact adverse selection, suggesting the rational model might not fully account for the results. Third, the removal of deadlines leads to a drop in the probability that a previously enrolled beneficiary switches plans of 3.18pp (baseline 9.08\%), suggesting that at least some Medicare beneficiaries are present-biased. The second chapter studies role of projection bias in mental health treatment decisions. Evidence from psychology suggests that on a bad-weather day, individuals may feel more depressed than usual. If people are not fully able to account for the effect of transient weather, they may take systematically biased treatment decisions. I derive a model of a person considering treatment for depression and show that when projection bias is present, transient weather might influence choice. I use detailed administrative medical records from the MarketScan \textregistered database and daily county-level meteorological data from the National Climatic Data Center. My period of analysis is 01/01/2003 through 12/31/2004. My main analysis focuses on patient behavior during a small interval of time after they have been seen by a physician. I look at how weather influences antidepressant filling decision within patient and only include appointments that involved a major diagnosis of a mental disease or disorder. I find that a one standard deviation increase in the amount of cloud coverage (2.73 oktas) leads to a 0.063 percentage point increase in the probability that a patient fills an antidepressant prescription on appointment day. That is a 1.04\% increase from the 6.07\% baseline. I also find effects associated with snow, rain, and temperature. All effects fade with time and are not significant within seven days of the appointment. Most of the impact of cloud coverage on antidepressant filling is due to an increase on the number of new prescriptions, not an increase in refills. Virtually all the effect happens at the pharmacy, not via mail order. Most regions have similar coefficients associated with cloud coverage, with stronger results in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Finally, most of the impact happens during Winter.

Essays in Behavioral Economics and Environmental Policy

Essays in Behavioral Economics and Environmental Policy
Author: Steven E. Sexton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2012
Genre:
ISBN:

Social planners have long relied upon non-coercive interventions in order to achieve social welfare improvements that are not obtained by markets or direct policy. Such policies are perhaps nowhere more relevant and common than in environmental economics. Environmental goods and services are typically not traded in markets because of the difficulties of property rights assignment. And yet efforts to create markets or correct market failures by coercive policy are fraught with controversy. Thus, in addition to coercive mechanisms, social planners use information provision campaigns, appeals for cooperation, and "nudges" to improve the efficiency of environmental resource allocations. Non-coercive interventions have grown in popularity among social planners as behavioral economics has gained acceptance within the mainstream of the field. Indeed, such policies typically affect market outcomes and achieve environmental goals only insofar as they can exploit or correct decision making that deviates from standard theory. In this dissertation, agent behavior is analyzed to assess the potential of non-coercive interventions to achieve socially preferred environmental outcomes. In a first essay, the concept of conspicuous conservation is introduced as a modern variant of conspicuous consumption that affords status for displays of austerity meant to signal environmental preferences rather than displays of ostentation meant to signal wealth. I identify conspicuous conservation in the automobile market and estimate a willingness to pay up to several thousand dollars for the "green" signal transmitted by ownership of the Toyota Prius. In a second essay, I demonstrate how automatic bill payment programs can induce excessive consumption of goods and services by boundedly rational consumers who exhibit inattention to prices. As automatic payment programs have spread throughout industries characterized by recurring payments, from utility and telecommunication services to insurance and loan markets, this essay is the first to consider their implications for consumer demand and welfare. It is also the first to test empirically whether enrollment in such programs increases demand, as price salience theory suggests. It is shown that residential electricity consumption increases on average 2-4.5% due to enrollment in automatic payment programs, while commercial electricity consumption grows much as 6%. Moreover, bill-smoothing programs that utilities offer to low-income households are shown to induce an 8-9% increase in electricity consumption. A final essay examines the extent to which free transit fares and appeals for car-trip avoidance reduce car pollution on smoggy days. With data on freeway traffic volumes and transit ridership, public appeals for cooperation are shown to have no significant effect on car trip demand. Free transit fares, however, do have a significant effect on car trip demand. But the effect is perverse in that it generates an increase in car trips and related pollution. Free fares also increase transit ridership. These results suggest that free transit rides do not induce motorists to substitute to transit, but instead subsidize regular transit rides and additional trips. Appeals for cooperation also have no affect on carpooling behavior. Viewed in their totality, these essays communicate the importance of behavioral theories in formulating environmental policies and predicting agents' responses to such policies. Policies formulated without due regard for agents' bounded rationality and multifaceted motivations are doomed to unintended consequeces. However, recognition of these behavioral responses and their incorporation in policy design can result in improved environmental outcomes and efficient policies.

Essays on Current Topics in Life Insurance

Essays on Current Topics in Life Insurance
Author: Gunther Kraut
Publisher: VVW GmbH
Total Pages: 137
Release: 2015
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3862983269

Das Buch erscheint in englischer Sprache. Das Buch widmet sich verschiedenen aktuellen Themen der Lebensversicherung, insbesondere dem Management von extremen Mortalitätsrisiken und dem Versicherungsnehmerverhalten. Am Beispiel illiquider Märkte für Katastrophenrisiken wird ein axiomatisch hergeleiteter Mechanismus entwickelt, der die Poolanteilsbestimmung in Risikotragegemeinschaften von mehreren Versicherungsunternehmen auf eindeutig bestimmte Weise fairer macht. Ein solcher Mechanismus könnte in bestimmten Marktsituationen dazu beitragen, vorhandene Marktkapazitäten effizienter zu nutzen und die sogenannte Grenze der Versicherbarkeit auszuweiten. Des Weiteren wird qualitativ untersucht, wie die Entwicklung solcher neuartigen Risikotransfertechniken durch die Versicherungsregulierung befördert oder behindert werden kann. Am Beispiel des Aufsichtsregimes Solvency II wird als Resultat dieser Analyse ein generisches internes Partialmodell entwickelt, das die Anerkennung gerade nicht-proportionaler Risikotransferinstrumente erleichtert und - wo sinnvoll - durch eine entsprechende Anreizsetzung erstrebenswert macht. Nach einem thematischen Sprung in die Welt der Sparprodukte wird zuletzt das dynamische Stornoverhalten von Versicherungsnehmern für sogenannte Variable-Annuity-Produkte empirisch untersucht. Auf verhaltensökonomischer Theorie aufbauend können Aussagen zur Finanzrationalität der Versicherungsnehmer gewonnen werden, die auch generelle Rückschlüsse auf die Bewertung von in Finanzprodukte eingebetteten Optionen durch Individuen zulassen. Durch diese breite thematische Aufstellung richtet sich das Buch sowohl an die Wissenschaft als auch an die Praxis. Insbesondere für Produktentwickler, Risikomanager und Aufseher sollten die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse von direktem Nutzen sein.

Essays on Behavioral Economics

Essays on Behavioral Economics
Author: Shailee Pradhan
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

The aim of this thesis is to understand economic and behavioral issues in microinsurance markets. Each of the four chapters contributes to a greater understanding of barriers to insurance take-up either from a demand or a supply side. The first chapter, together with Martin Eling and Joan T. Schmit, provides an overview of the determinants of microinsurance demand. By reviewing 51 empirical papers published since the early 2000s, we identify 12 key determinants of microinsurance demand. Our results suggest that more research on the role of non-performance risk, trust, financial literacy, and informal risk sharing mechanisms would benefit the growth of microinsurance markets. In the second chapter, jointly written with Christian Biener, Martin Eling, and Andreas Landmann, we examine the potential of social groups to address ex-ante moral hazard. Ex-ante moral hazard leads to substantial social welfare losses, and in its most extreme form, can lead to the failure of insurance markets. We make use of innovative field and computer laboratory experiments to show that pro-social preferences under group insurance scheme alleviate ex-ante moral hazard. In the third chapter, Christian Biener and I exploit exogenous variation in exposure to Typhoon Haiyan to examine how large-scale shocks impact risk preferences and microinsurance demand. We find that individuals are more risk-loving after the typhoon. Moreover, take-up for individual insurance increases and take-up for group insurance decreases after the typhoon. The results suggest that large-scale shocks that affect entire communities render the mutual loss sharing aspect of group insurance less attractive. We apply the theory of salience to explain how individuals exhibit risk-loving behavior and yet buy insurance. In the final chapter, I evaluate how playing an experimental insurance game affects real-life insurance enrollment for the poor. I examine the long-term impact of an.