We examine optimal taxation and social insurance if insurance markets are imperfect. This requires the development of a theory of labor supply under uncertainty. We show that the case for social insurance is not generally reinforced by adverse selection in insurance markets as social insurance will have welfare-decreasing e ects on the labor market. Furthermore, positive and normative implicati...

This paper examines how changes in major elements of the U.S. federal crop insurance program affect the structure of the agricultural insurance industry. We model interactions between farmers, insurance agents and insurance companies. Marginal changes in government policy (premium subsidy rate, A&O subsidy rate, and loading factor) affect the insurance premium rate, agent compensation rates, ag...

We demonstrate the existence of multiple dimensions of private information in the long-term care insurance market. Two types of people purchase insurance: individuals with private information that they are high risk and individuals with private information that they have strong taste for insurance. Ex post, the former are higher risk than insurance companies expect, while the latter are lower r...

In this paper, we examine the influence of medical malpractice tort reform on the level of private health insurance company losses incurred. We employ a natural experiment framework centered on a series of tort reform measures enacted in Texas in 2003 that drastically altered the medical malpractice environment in the state. The results of a difference-in-differences analysis using a variety of...

Background After the global economic downturn, the economies of the United States and China demonstrate substantial growth opportunities. Among many enterprises, insurance is one hopeful industry as more and more people are taking initiatives to protect themselves against risks in terms of lives, properties, investments, etc. While the insurance industry has been well-established in the U.S., t...

On July 1, 1996, Employment Insurance (EI) replaced the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program.1 Although the two programs are broadly similar, there are some important differences, including the differential treatment of frequent and occasional claimants and the introduction of an income top-up for low-income recipients with children under EI. Overall, these reforms bring more restrictive benefit...

The problem of food security during the last few decades has acquired a global character. Population growth, reduction of farmland suitable for agriculture and ecological factors has led to a sharp increase in food demand. In such conditions, the role of countries which are able to increase the export of agricultural production in short-term periods is rising. Ukraine has great opportunities fo...

The goal of this paper is to improve our understanding of the costs and benefits of explicit deposit insurance. To this end, we compare the opportunity-cost value of deposit insurance services for a large sample of banks drawn from countries with or without explicit deposit insurance. After correcting for certain bankand country-specific factors, we find that the existence of explicit deposit i...

Funeral insurance has existed at least since antiquity, and it remains popular in many parts of Africa today. Yet the study of funeral insurance as a distinct form of insurance has hitherto been neglected. This paper presents a model in which funeral insurance combines regular life insurance with a restriction on how the payout is spent. The model predicts that there is an intermediate range of...