Japan was the first Asian country to introduce social insurance measures and she has expanded them during the last few decades. The first social insurance law was passed in 1922 dealing with worker’s health insurance in general. It was followed by many schemes of social insurance. National Health Insurance in 1938, Seamen’s Insurance in 1939, Employees’ Pension Insurance in 1941 and so forth. A...

It is well known that when agents are fully rational, compulsory public insurance may make all agents better o¤ in the Rothschild and Stiglitz (1976) model of insurance markets. We …nd that when su¢ ciently many agents underestimate their personal risks, compulsory insurance makes low-risk agents worse o¤. Hence, behavioral biases may weaken some of the well-established rationales for governmen...

This paper uses individual level data to analyze the effect of changes in the compulsory benefit package of the German statutory health insurance scheme on the demand for private supplementary insurance. In particular, we aim at measuring the effect of excluding dentures from the benefit package in 1997 as well as the effect of re-including them in 1999.A difference-in-differences estimator is ...

This paper uses individual level data to analyze the effect of changes in the compulsory benefit package of the German statutory health insurance scheme on the demand for private supplementary insurance. In particular, we aim at measuring the effect of excluding dentures from the benefit package in 1997 as well as the effect of re-including them in 1999.A difference-in-differences estimator is ...

Social legislation is the popular topic of the day. If he realizes it the Forgotten Man must be mildly annoyed by being so well remembered. While the noisy protagonists of the various styles of social insurance are making their stirring pleas it is only right that the opponents have their day in court. Dr. Ochsner ably presents the case. His long and active career as a student in the Health Ins...