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The research aims to study the financial behavior of students from the Babeș-Bolyai University in the municipality of Cluj-Napoca and the factors that, according to the literature, are contributors to its formation and positive modeling. Several factors were studied using a quantitative paradigm: family financial socialization, the level of financial self-control, and exposure to financial education. The overall picture of the financial behavior of the students who took part in the research (Babeș-Bolyai University students filling a self-administered questionnaire) illustrates a relatively healthy financial behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial education is a topic that has been gaining a lot of prominence in the world. Technological changes, differentiated products, and currency stabilization have made the topic also relevant in Brazil. It was noted a shortage of work with elementary school students. On this, the aim of this paper is to analyze the perception of 9th grade students about financial education in two schools located in Maceió/Al, developing a descriptive research, with a non-probabilistic sample, consisted of 38 students with a closed questionnaire in 2019. It was concluded that over 98% have access to the internet, most of the students said that they have already talked to their relatives about money and believe that it's important to study financial education in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mental accounting process of an individual plays an important role in financial decision-making. Little is known, especially in the Indian context, about individual differences in mental accounting and its influence on their financial planning. The study aims to understand the role of the mental accounting system of individuals in financial decisions. The authors also explore the influence of the individual's cognitive ability in financial decision-making and name the antecedent as financial cognition. Partial least square structural equation modeling has been used to analyze the data. The analysis of the data supports the mediating role of mental accounting between financial cognition and personal financial planning. The result establishes the fact that the individuals' financial cognitions influence the mental accounting process and reinforce the role of psychological processes that drive financial decisions. The study would be helpful to financial planners in customizing personal financial planning with the understanding of financial cognition and the mental accounting process and would be helpful to the financial professionals and advisors in understanding the influence of mental accounting in saving and expenditure patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In with-profit life insurance, the prudent valuation of future insurance liabilities leads to systematic surplus that mainly belongs to the policyholders and is redistributed as bonus. For a fair and lawful redistribution of surplus, the insurer needs to decompose the total portfolio surplus with respect to the contributions of individual policies and with respect to different risk sources. For this task, actuaries have a number of heuristic decomposition formulas, but an overarching decomposition principle is still missing. This paper fills that gap by introducing a so-called ISU decomposition principle that bases on infinitesimal sequential updates of the insurer's valuation basis. It is shown that the existing heuristic decomposition formulas can be replicated as ISU decompositions. Furthermore, alternative decomposition principles and their relation to the ISU decomposition principle are discussed. The generality of the ISU concept makes it a useful tool also beyond classical surplus decompositions in life insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we study a multiproduct multiperiod production planning problem faced by a cash-strapped manufacturer, who utilizes inventory-based financing (IBF) to capture additional demand during peak season, which otherwise will not be met due to cash shortage. Each product has a unique selling season and its production incurs a significant setup cost. We formulate the problem as an integer program and show the special case with one product is NP-hard. By exploiting the inherent structure of three distinct but related decisions, i.e., the production, financing, and working capital allocation decisions, we develop a Lagrangian relaxation-based branch-and-bound procedure to solve the model. Through a series of numerical experiments using real data, this article presents managerial insights into how the manufacturer's optimal production plan could differ with and without IBF. In an optimal plan, we show the profit maximizing strategy for the cash-strapped manufacturer is to overstock and pledge inventories to secure more loans prior to peak demand periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the likelihood of consumers hiring a financial planner based on race and gender utilizing an experimental design. Using a sample of Black and White MTurk respondents, cumulative logistic regression was employed to determine the effects of race and gender on the likelihood to hire a financial planner. Findings suggested that, overall, consumers did not have racially biased preferences when hiring a financial planner. However, they did express a preference for hiring female planners over male planners. Financial planning firms can use these findings to strengthen their support for and recruitment of women financial planners, as well as address concerns of racial bias amongst consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the design of Pareto-optimal insurance under the heterogeneous beliefs of the insured and insurer. To accommodate a wide range of belief heterogeneity, we allow the likelihood ratio function to be non-monotone. To prevent the ex post moral hazard issue, the incentive compatibility condition is exogenously imposed to restrict the indemnity function. An implicit characterization of the optimal indemnity function is presented first by using the calculus of variations. Based on the point-wise maximizer to the problem, we partition the domain of loss into disjoint pieces and derive the parametric form of the optimal indemnity function over each piece through its implicit characterization. The main result of this paper generalizes those in the literature and provides insights for related problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first studies the optimal reinsurance problems for two competitive insurers and then studies the optimal reinsurance premium pricing problem for their common reinsurer by using the dynamic programming technique. The two insurers are subject to common insurance systematic risk. Each purchases proportional or excess-of-loss reinsurance for risk control. They aim to maximize the expected utilities of their relative terminal wealth. With the insurers' optimal reinsurance strategies, the reinsurer decides the reinsurance premiums for each insurer, also aiming to maximize the expected utility of her terminal wealth. Thus, the optimal reinsurance pricing problem is formulated as a Stackelberg game between two competitive insurers and a reinsurer, where the reinsurer is the leader, and the insurers are followers. Besides, all three players take model ambiguity into account. We characterize the optimal strategies for the insurers and the reinsurer and provide some numerical examples to show the impact of competition and model ambiguity on the pricing of reinsurance contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Index insurance offers an innovative risk management solution for uninsured agricultural weather risk. We investigate the theoretical relationship between prospect theory risk preferences and characteristics of index insurance. We pair these theoretical findings with data from a lab-in-the-field experiment in Kenya. Empirically, we find that insurance demand is decreasing in loss aversion, and the negative marginal effect of loss aversion on insurance demand increases with basis risk and the insurance premium. Our theoretical and empirical results combined illustrate the importance of considering both risk and loss aversion, as well as basis risk, in understanding index insurance decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study in a lab experiment with slum dwellers in Nairobi whether background risk induces ex ante risk-avoiding behaviour. We find that risk-averse subjects choose indeed less risky, profitable investments when background risk is present. However, relaxing these risk constraints by the provision of insurance has no effect (free insurance) or even a negative impact (fair insurance) on risk taking. We find suggestive evidence that these unexpected results are driven by imperfect understanding of insurance and experience effects. Moreover, constantly low investment under fair insurance suggests a dampening effect of the certain premium that dominates the positive risk-reducing effect of insurance. Our results imply that providing poor households with instruments that facilitate the handling of background risk is important to encourage entrepreneurial risk taking. However, insurance might not be the optimal policy in the short term, since it may, if not sufficiently understood or valued, even reduce willingness to invest compared to the status quo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on customer loyalty and explores the role of customer engagement. The moderating role of gender is also examined. A total of 348 valid responses collected via the intercept approach from life insurance customers in Ghana were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results suggest that CSR dimensions (economic, environmental, and social responsibility) positively impact customer loyalty. Also, the results indicate a partial mediating influence of customer engagement between CSR dimensions and customer loyalty. Further, the results establish the moderating effect of gender between economic and environmental dimensions of CSR and customer engagement. However, the study finds no moderating effect of gender between the social dimension of CSR and customer engagement. The study provides an empirical basis for CSR strategies that can drive customer engagement and customer loyalty in the insurance sector in many economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When an insurance company's risk reserve is governed by a Markov-modulated jump-diffusion risk model, we study gambler's ruin problem in terms of two-sided ruin probability that the insurance company shall be ruined before its risk reserve reaches an upper barrier level b ∈ (0 , ∞). We employ Banach contraction principle and q-scale functions to confirm the two-sided ruin probability to be the only fixed point of a contraction mapping and construct an iterative algorithm of approximating the two-sided ruin probability. We find that the two-sided ruin probability and Lipschitz constant in the contraction mapping depend on the upper barrier level b, premium rate per squared volatility, Markov intensity rate per squared volatility, Poisson intensity rate per squared volatility and the mean value of claim per unit of time. Finally, we present a numerical example with two regimes to show the efficiency of the iterative algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper investigates Chinese agricultural insurance agents willingness to offer (WTO) livestock insurance based on the variations of eight main attributes of livestock insurance. Design/methodology/approach: This study implements discrete choice experiments (DCE) with actual insurance agents who design, sell and operate livestock insurance in China. The choice experiment of this study is based on the D-optimal approach, a six-block design, with 15 cards per block and two choices per card. The sample size was 211. Econometrics results are based on conditional and mixed logit models. Findings: The authors find that the subsidy effect is enormous; a one level increase of subsidy leads to 3.166 times higher probability to offer. This subsidy effect is important as it confirms the endogenous structure between price and quantity in insurance offering, where subsidy does not only incentivize demand but also the supply. Another main factor of insurance investigated is the impact of different coverage types on agents' WTO. The authors find that agents prefer mortality insurance the most, followed by revenue insurance and profit insurance, while Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) is the least preferred to offer. Agents' knowledge about these newer types of insurance supports their WTO as well; thus, proper education is necessary to promote the more advanced types of livestock insurance. Research limitations/implications: A limitation is that in the presence of COVID 19, and administrative issues at the local level, the sample was not randomly drawn. Nonetheless, the authors believe that there is enough diversity across participants, insurers and provinces and have done sufficient robustness checks to support results and conclusions. Practical implications: This study provides further validation for the DCE research method that could potentially be applied to different analyses: using choice experiments to study insurers and reveal their preferences, through combinations of various levels of core attributes for insurance products. The findings and contribution are critical to the reform and improvement of livestock insurance in China and for insurance markets more broadly. The authors find that insurers do not place equal weights or values on insurance product attributes and do not view types of insurance equally. In other words, while farmers may hold different preferences about the type of insurance they demand, the results suggest that insurers also hold preferences in the type of insurance they sell. Originality/value: So far as the authors are aware, this is the first DCE designed around the supply of insurance products with the subjects being insurance agents, marketers and executives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: this paper analyzes how framing, anchoring, and certainty effects may affect the behavior of the consumer of auto insurance. Methods: an experiment was carried out, with the face-to-face application of six versions of a questionnaire with 14 questions, for 163 respondents from an educational institution. Questions were prepared to analyze the existence of the framing effect, the anchoring effect, and the certainty effect, in addition to the deductible effect (present in several insurance products). The theoretical framework of the paper is the behavioral economics. Results: younger people, singles, and men are more prone to risk. Although the findings in general corroborate the evidence in the literature, the results of the certainty effect were contrary to expectations. The payment of the deductible increased the respondents' risk aversion. Conclusions: the existence of biases and heuristics can cause the purchase of insurance to occur in a non-optimal way. Knowledge of the decisionmaking process is important for insurers and consumers. It is also relevant for regulators, in order to subsidize measures aimed at market efficiency and consumer protection, through the design of an appropriate choice architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With COVID-19 still making headlines around the world, many people currently feel uncertain about many aspects of life, including family financial planning and wealth management. Financial planning is important at all times, but it becomes essential during a crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic, which has disrupted people's finances. Some economic consequences are already apparent, but the financially-induced stress caused by the uncertainty is less visible. With the increase in family wealth and size of organizations, there is a comparable increase in their assets. There is considerable demand for professionals to manage these assets and coordinate investment activities in order to maintain growth. This raises the issue of how to increase a wealth management bank's competitive advantages. This study approached the issue by using experts and the application of fuzzy logic and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory and multiple criteria decision-making to segment a set of the selection criteria used by prospective customers, to select a wealth management bank that can effectively manage personal wealth. The results showed that the management's learning and growth perspective was the most important factor in respondents' selection of a wealth management bank. This paper also provides managerial practice implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the effect of real increases in salary on required contribution rates when saving for retirement to maintain a Sustainable Lifestyle Level (SLL). We consider two strategies. The first sets conventional contribution rates, recalculating whenever an increase occurs. This requires smaller initial contribution rates, which then need to be increased later in the employee's working life. The second strategy requires that a constant contribution rate be maintained that allows for the anticipated increases. This rate requires a substantially higher contribution rate from the start. The result is particularly important for setting appropriate default contribution rates for defined contribution retirement funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mature forms of integrated planning enable businesses to manage customer expectations while optimizing cost and profit. While Integrated Business Planning (IBP) and Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) processes often meet the needs of smaller manufacturers, this is not always the case for global manufacturing organizations. In this article I discuss how four critical capability gaps are falling between the cracks of IBP and FP&A processes and technologies, ones that prevent GMOs from optimizing enterprise costs, profit, cash flow, working capital and enterprise value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We all know that S&OP requires the involvement of Finance but in many organizations this function can feel detached from the core S&OP functions of demand and supply. Make no mistake, though, the financial context of a company underpins the entire planning process and is key to keeping demand and supply planning aligned with financial constraints, company goals, and strategy. In this article, I invite planning professionals to walk a mile in Finance's shoes, revealing the priorities and core responsibilities of this function, including how they must represent the voices of management, ownership and, if applicable, the bank, in the S&OP process. I also discuss how Finance can add value to the S&OP process (and the enterprise as whole) by revealing the impacts of planning activities on cash flow, margin, and P&L, and more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Models to price long term loans in the securities lending business are developed. These longer horizon deals can be viewed as contracts with optionality embedded in them. This insight leads to the usage of established methods from derivatives theory to price such contracts. Numerical simulations are used to demonstrate the practical applicability of these models. The techniques advanced here can lead to greater synergies between the management of derivative and delta-one trading desks, perhaps even being able to combine certain aspects of the day to day operations of these seemingly disparate entities. These models are part of one of the least explored, yet profit laden, areas of modern management. A heuristic is developed to mitigate any loss of information, which might set in when parameters are estimated first and then the valuations are performed, by directly calculating valuations using the historical time series. This approach to valuations can lead to reduced models errors, robust estimation systems, greater financial stability and economic strength. An illustration is provided regarding how the methodologies developed here could be useful for inventory management, emissions trading and insurance risk mitigation. All these techniques could have applications for dealing with other financial instruments, non-financial commodities and many forms of uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper features a hybrid dividend payment strategy on an insurance surplus with stochastic income. The hybrid dividend strategy works as follows: A delay-clock starts whenever the surplus up-shoots, due to a premium arrival, to a level between barriers 'k' and ' ℓ ', such that 0 ⩽ u ⩽ k ⩽ ℓ < ∞ . Further, the clock restarts along with each premium or claim arrival, provided the surplus still lies between 'k' and ' ℓ '. However, when the surplus exits to a level outside the range between two barriers, the clock terminates. The insurer pays a dividend of an amount exceeding the level 'k' to shareholders on two scenarios. In one situation, the insurer pays dividend if delay-clock alarms before a premium or claim arrival. In the other situation, the insurer pays dividend instantaneously if surplus exceeds the second barrier ' ℓ '. The aggregate premiums and claims are both following mutually independent compound Poisson processes, both having exponential amount sizes which are further independent to corresponding inter-arrival times. A scheme for determining analytic expressions for piecewise Volterra integral equations, with boundary conditions, which are satisfied by the expected discounted dividend paid before ruin and the Gerber–Shiu function are discussed in detail when the delay-clock also follows an exponential distribution. We discuss a numerical example to show the tractability of the scheme and to brief the impact of hybrid dividend strategy over the classical De Finetti barrier strategy for paying dividends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of statistical and AI methods in civil litigation is an area likely to expand. As with many areas of social science, the data requirements are high but complex, because of the complexity of the legal process and the nature of the causal connections. This paper looks at the early stage of the process where the initial establishment of liability acts as a legal triage which affects the route through the litigation process. A simple model is used in which the training set is the assessment of the probability of liability given hypothetical scenarios in road traffic accidents. The model is augmented by additional "weight of evidence" assessments. The model, once built, is used as a decision support system for claim handlers on a routine basis. The methods can be seen as a way of utilising a special type of expert judgment elicitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monetary policy ensures the financial system stabilization. Financial inclusion, characterized by the access and use of available financial services (credit, savings, payments, insurance at a low cost), by a broader population, may explain the effectiveness of the monetary policy, especially in developing countries. The objective of this study is to carry out a comparative analysis between the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), on the causal relationship between financial inclusion and monetary policy, as well as to assess the impact of financial inclusion over monetary policy. To support our study, we applied the panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) methodology, simple panel data models, and a feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) model. Results provide strong evidence of the existence of reverse causality between financial inclusion and monetary policy in both SSA and LAC, with monetary policy facilitating financial inclusion in both regions. Financial inclusion increases the effectiveness of monetary policy in SSA, while for LAC financial inclusion improves the efficiency of monetary policy. Thus, increased access to and use of financial services increase the efficiency of monetary policy in controlling inflation. Governments are encouraged to design or enhance policies that expand financial services, as well as to promote investment in financial inclusion in developing countries, to maintain the monetary system stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bowley reinsurance solutions are reinsurance contracts for which the reinsurer optimally sets the pricing density while anticipating that the insurer will choose the optimal reinsurance indemnity given this pricing density. This Bowley solution concept of equilibrium reinsurance strategy has been revisited in the modern risk management framework by Boonen et al. [(2021). Bowley reinsurance with asymmetric information on the insurer's risk preferences. Scandinavian Actuarial Journal2021, 623–644], where the insurer and reinsurer are both endowed with distortion risk measures but there is asymmetric information on the distortion risk measure of the insurer. In this article, we continue to study this framework, but we allow the premium principle to be more flexible. We call this solution the first-best Bowley solution. We provide first-best Bowley solutions in closed form under very general assumptions. We implement some numerical examples to illustrate the findings and the comparisons with the second-best solution. The main result is further extended to the case when both the reinsurer and the insurers have heterogeneous beliefs on the distribution functions of the underlying risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we demonstrate through the use of matrix calculus a transparent analysis of fractional inhomogeneous Markov models for life insurance where transition matrices commute. The resulting formulae are intuitive matrix generalizations of their single-state counterparts, and the absorption times are matrix versions of well-known scalar distributions. A further advantage of this approach is that it allows extending the analysis to the non-Markovian case where sojourns are Mittag-Leffler distributed, and where the absorption times are fractional phase-type distributed. Considering deterministic time transforms gives rise to fractional inhomogeneous phase-type distributions as absorption times. The latter underlying processes are an example of a regime where not only the present but also the history of a policyholder influences its future evolution. The sub-exponential nature of stable distributions translates into the multi-state insurance model as a random longevity risk at any given state of the chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies the meta-frontier Data Envelopment Analysis and the main concepts of convergence from the economic growth literature (β-convergence and σ-convergence) to analyze integration and convergence both in efficiency and in technology gap of European Union (EU) insurance markets. We evaluate 10 EU life insurance markets over the 17-year-period 1998–2014. Results show convergence in cost/revenue efficiency among major EU life insurance markets during the sample period. These findings indicate that the least efficient countries in 1998 have shown a higher improvement in cost/revenue efficiency than the most efficient countries in the same year as well as that the dispersion of the mean efficiency scores among EU life insurance markets decreased over the sample period. We also find convergence in cost/revenue technology gap among these markets, suggesting that they become more technologically homogeneous during the sample period. However, results show that the global financial crisis has led to a slowdown in the progress of integration and convergence in efficiency and technology gap of EU life insurance markets in terms of cost efficiency but not in terms of revenue efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the study of theoretical, methodological and applied aspects of the formation of the country's state budget as a tool for the implementation of social and economic policy, outlines its role in the life of society and individuals. In addition, a detailed analysis is devoted to the structural components of the budget: sources of the revenue part of the budget, which includes tax and non-tax revenues, official transfers, trust funds, income from capital operations and other revenues; peculiarities of the distribution of the expenditure part through researching the main trends of directing state funds. The correlation between the role, functions and tasks of the state budget of Ukraine regarding the practical implementation of the best experience of economically stable countries of the world regarding the use of modern budgeting technologies is comprehensively characterized. The specifics of budget policy implementation in the crisis period are considered, taking into account the specifics of the current legislation of Ukraine. As a result, the place of the state budget in the financial system of Ukraine in the conditions of a full-scale war in terms of ensuring the priority sectors of the economy was revealed. On the basis of the proposed main financial plan of the country for 2023, through the application of economic and statistical methods, deduction, synthesis and analysis, the analysis and systematization of key macro- and microeconomic indicators was carried out in order to clarify the modern laws, trends and processes of the country's socio-economic development in the conditions of war state. The particular attention is paid to financing defense and social spheres in 2023, the features of social security of the population and the state debt. The article highlights in detail the existing problems and potential threats in the budget system of Ukraine in 2023 and suggests ways to solve them in accordance with the conditions of a country at war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author discusses issues in the U.S. death care industry, particularly the need for families to prepare for future funeral expenses to avoid being forced into poverty due to unexpected deaths of loved ones. Other topics include the feasibility of planning and prepayment of death expenses as a strategy, and the regulation of pre-need prepayment for death care services at the state level.

Along the last years, it has been increasingly observed that a reduced understanding of a pro-saving financial behaviour, the lack of financial literacy, have led to bad decisions regarding the living of an individual, of a family and finally, by extension, the well-being of a nation. The lack of financial literacy is also confirmed by surveys of various organizations, measuring the awareness of the population about interest, inflation, loans, etc., knowledge that seems to be very poor. People's negative habits have consequences, such as: accumulating debts, many times not even realizing how quickly this happens. This article aims to present a theorethical approach and some tips & tricks for saving up and offers some practical solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Satellite-based weather index insurance has recently been considered in order to reduce the high basis risk of station-based weather index insurance. However, the use of satellite data with a relatively low spatial resolution has not yet made it possible to determine the satellite indices free of disturbing landscape elements such as mountains, forests and lakes. Design/methodology/approach: In this context, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used based on both Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (250 × 250 m) and high-resolution Landsat 5/8 (30 × 30 m) images to investigate the effect of a higher spatial resolution of satellite-based weather index contracts for hedging winter wheat yields. For three farms in north-east Germany, insurance contracts both at field and farm level were designed. Findings: The results indicate that with an increasing spatial resolution of satellite data, the basis risk of satellite-based weather index insurance contracts can be reduced. However, the results also show that the design of NDVI-based insurance contracts at farm level also reduces the basis risk compared to field level. The study shows that higher-resolution satellite data are advantageous, whereas satellite indices at field level do not reduce the basis risk. Originality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, the effect of increasing spatial resolution of satellite images for satellite-based weather index insurance is investigated for the first time at the field level compared to the farm level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective –This study aims to obtain empirical evidence of the effect of economic incentives, financial technology, and financial literacy on financial planning. Methodology –The data used in this study came from a questionnaire with 113 millennial respondents who live throughout Indonesia. Questionnaires were distributed in 2020 to understand millennial financial planning and the factors influencing it during the Covid-19 pandemic. Findings – This research found that economic incentives did not affect financial planning, while financial literacy and financial planning had a positive and significant effect on financial planning. Novelty – This study is among the first to learn the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on millennials' finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shares lessons learned from providing planning and technical assistance to the grantees of the Merck Foundation's 5-year, $16 million initiative, Bridging the Gap: Reducing Disparities in Diabetes Care, designed to improve access to high-quality diabetes care and reduce disparities in health outcomes among vulnerable and underserved U.S. populations with type 2 diabetes. Our objective was to co-create, with the sites, financial sustainability plans to sustain their work once the initiative had ended and to improve and/or expand it to serve more patients, better. Financial sustainability is an unfamiliar concept in this context, largely because the current payment system inadequately compensates providers for the value their care models provide to patients and to insurers. Our assessment and recommendations are based on our experiences working with each of the sites on sustainability plans. The sites were diverse in terms of their approaches to clinical transformation and integration of SDOH interventions, geography, organizational context, external environment, and populations served. These factors influenced the sites' capacity to build and implement viable financial sustainability strategies and the eventual plans themselves. Philanthropy has a critical role in investing in providers' capacity to develop and implement financial sustainability plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While portfolio optimization is generally based on the return and risk of a portfolio, goal-based investing primarily focuses on achieving financial goals of individuals, which has become a popular approach in personalized financial planning. While many long-term financial planning models use scenarios for representing uncertainty in future market dynamics, it is subject to the curse of dimensionality. In this study, we propose a goal-based investing model for personalized lifetime financial planning based on robust portfolio optimization, which incorporates multiple goals that occur in different periods with various priorities. Empirical results illustrate how the size of uncertainty sets and risk constraints can be customized for finding the optimal investment and show efficiency in solving a portfolio problem with many stages compared to scenario-based approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insurance plays an important economic and social role through its ability to transfer risk. In this paper, we focus on the largest insurance sector, the automobile sector. We model automobile insurance premia through a top down approach. Our approach is appealing since it defines the dynamics of the aggregate loss in a consistent way, and also provides a coherent definition of the joint distribution of the total losses and the car insurance premium. We show how to make this top down approach computationally tractable by using the class of affine point processes, which are intensity-based jump processes driven by affine jump diffusions. An affine point process is sufficiently flexible to account for both country global infrastructure and driving behaviour. Further it allows for efficient computation and calibration of a large class of insurance products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by the double-debt problem in Japan where the mortgagor has to pay the remaining loan even if their house was destroyed by a catastrophic event, we model the lender's cash flow, by an exponential functional of a renewal-reward process. We propose an insurance add-on to the loan repayments and analyse the asymptotic behavior of the distribution of the first hitting time, which represents the probability of full repayment. We show that the finite-time probability of full loan repayment converges exponentially fast to the infinite-time one. In a few concrete scenarios, we calculate the exact form of the infinite-time probability and the corresponding premiums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries, the decline in interest rates has reduced the interest in traditional participating life insurance contracts with investment guarantees and has led to a shift to unit-linked policies without guarantees. We design a novel mixed insurance contract splitting premium payments between a participating and a unit-linked fund. An additional guarantee fee is applied on the unit-linked return in order to increase the investment guarantee of the participating fund. In a utility-based framework, using power utility and prospect theory as preference functions, we show that the mixed product is usually perceived more attractive than a full investment in either the unit-linked or the participating contract. The guarantee fee is beneficial for conservative investors interested in stronger protection against losses. This is also interesting from a marketing perspective: By the increase of the guarantee in the participating product, zero or negative guaranteed rates can be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equitable and sustainable well-being (in Italian, "BES") has become an integral part of the decision-making process of economic and financial planning. By now, the needs of up-to-date and accurate measures of BES at local level is certain. Among BES indicators, several are obtained from Labour Force Survey (LFS) data. LFS provided estimates keeping with the highest quality and methodology standards required by the new Integrated European Social Statistics (IESS) framework regulation. The aim of this paper is to extend recent improvements in LFS variance estimation methodology also to BES indicators computed on LFS data. The direct consequence is that, besides estimates, accuracy measures can be provided. This can help researchers and decision makers to analyze the performance among the Italian regions and their evolution over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microenterprises are of great importance to the economies of the world because of their capacity to generate jobs and contribute to the gross domestic product, favoring the national production system. However, they are also highly vulnerable to the different socioeconomic scenarios that affect their different environments, as well as to the financial planning training of their operators (managers, administrators, or owners) who are a central part of the life expectancy of these enterprises, as well as of their growth. The relevance of the operator is analyzed using the chi-square statistical test by relating varieties of financial planning such as credit, liquidity, indebtedness, costs of goods and services, decision making about the age, education, and professional training in the financial planning of the microenterprise operator. Using Likert scaling, 124 surveys were formulated, each with 22 items related to the profile of the operators and the financial planning resources mentioned above, thus generating quantifiable numerical records containing the responses of the microenterprise operators interviewed. From the statistical analysis with the chi-square test, the degrees of dependence between variables were determined, finding that the professional training in the field of financial planning of the microenterprise operator is a determinant in survival, existence, or life expectancy, which is 5.7, lower than the national average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By now, the opioid epidemic is no secret, and neither is the flood of litigation resulting from it in courts throughout the United States over the past few years. The highest-level courts to rule on the issue are the Delaware Supreme Court (in favor of insurers) and the Seventh Circuit (in favor of policyholders), amongst an array of various federal trial level and state trial and appellate court rulings. As these lawsuits come to a head, the pursuit of reimbursement through liability insurance available to these defendants has sparked insurance coverage litigation in courts throughout the country. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: considering the current level of transparency in the financial statements of Brazilian insurers, this study sought to assess whether it was possible to estimate the sufficiency of the claims reserves estimated by it. As they are liabilities with an uncertain term or amount, the estimates of these reserves may be underestimated (compromising the insurers) or overestimated (burdening the shareholders), which justifies the research question. Methods: after analyzing the financial statements of 31 insurance companies in Brazil, it was noted that the criteria for disclosing claims development varied substantially. Thus, five insurers were selected that adopted similar procedures and allowed the application of the bootstrapping model to estimate the sufficiency level of the provisions. Results: the application of the model revealed that there are indications that insurers can make use of earnings management through the estimations of the claims reserves, spreading the burden of claims insufficiency risk differently between policyholders and shareholders. Conclusion: there are differences in the relative amount of claims recognized by the insurers, showing a possible earnings management practice being applied through the claims measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wisdom holds that purposivist theories of statutory interpretation solve the problem of tax shelters, because shelters comply with the text but not the purpose of tax statutes. But the predominant form of purposivism in tax scholarship, which combines specific statutory purposes with general structural principles of tax law, cannot separate shelters from ordinary tax planning. Although tax shelters claim benefits that exceed specific purposes and do not align with objective general principles, so do some widely accepted tax strategies. This Article therefore proposes a new framework to go beyond purposivism in tax law, complementing purposivist techniques with pragmatism or doctrinalism. Pragmatism applies explicit policy judgments when statutory purposes run out; doctrinalism applies rules, like canons of construction, that provide determinate answers when statutory purpose is ambiguous. Pragmatism generally leads to better results in any particular case, while doctrinalism provides taxpayers certainty in planning legitimate transactions. This Article lays out how the pragmatic and doctrinalist approaches ought to apply, and when. The ideal compromise is a hybrid: Agencies should primarily apply pragmatic purposivism in ex ante guidance, while agencies and courts should primarily apply doctrinalist purposivism in ex post adjudication. The ex ante/ex post split comports with existing administrative and common law, and it suits the relative strengths of agencies and courts. Ultimately, it gives interpreters the flexibility to deal with pernicious, sophisticated modern tax shelters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article was to evaluate the viability of Universal Life insurance (UL) in Brazil from two perspectives: from the individual viewpoint of policyholders, considering different client profiles and investment scenarios; and from the company viewpoint, verifying whether insurers see sales advantages in UL. Thus, despite the lack of definition of the regulations on these contracts by the Superintendence of Private Insurance (Susep), this article’s contribution lies in evaluating UL – a typically American product – in Brazil, using an entirely actuarial methodology, for policyholders and insurers, according to local parameters. The relevance of the article lies in strengthening the support for individuals, companies, and authorities to evaluate the product and discuss its implementation, even identifying the most favorable profiles and scenarios for its development. Although the UL is an individual modality that is widespread in several countries and its design exploits welldefined attractions, the product has not been explored in the national literature. The methodology adoted in this study used fully actuarial modeling, the internal rate of return (IRR), and profit testing. The study reveals that the Brazilian market for UL is viable, especially due to the higher interest rates compared to countries where the product is already widespread. From a demand perspective, the results indicate that the policyholder would be in a more advantageous position acquiring UL than buying life insurance in the private market and investing the surplus in financial assets, due to the hybrid characteristic of the contract, which enables the use of financial returns as discount factors in the insurance portion and operational charges, reducing the opportunity costs linked to the product. With regard to companies, the profit testing results suggest there are stimuli for the supply of UL, provided the operation has a long-term bias. Altering the mortality pattern, policy type, and the company’s investment profile, all the results point in a similar direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we determine a robust reinsurance contract from joint interests of the insurer and reinsurer under the framework of Stackelberg differential game. More specifically, the reinsurer is the leader of the game and decides on an optimal reinsurance premium to charge, while the insurer is the follower of the game and chooses an optimal proportional reinsurance to purchase. In order to defend the large shocks of wealth process, a loss-dependent premium principle is applied to the insurer. Meanwhile, we incorporate model uncertainty into the reinsurer's controlled surplus due to the asymmetric information. Under the time-consistent mean-variance criterion, we derive the robust reinsurance contract explicitly by solving the coupled extended Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman systems. It is interesting to prove that the optimal premium control for the reinsurer is determined by a time-adjusted variance principle. In addition, we find that the reinsurer would like to raise the reinsurance price to guard against the model uncertainty, which consequently decreases the insurer's reinsurance demand. Finally, further analyses are provided to show the necessity of considering the model uncertainty; otherwise, the reinsurance company will suffer a great loss of utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the classical static optimal reinsurance problem, the cost of capital for the insurer's risk exposure determined by a monetary risk measure is minimized over the class of reinsurance treaties represented by increasing Lipschitz retained loss functions. In this paper, we consider a dynamic extension of this reinsurance problem in discrete time which can be viewed as a risk-sensitive Markov Decision Process. The model allows for both insurance claims and premium income to be stochastic and operates with general risk measures and premium principles. We derive the Bellman equation and show the existence of a Markovian optimal reinsurance policy. Under an infinite planning horizon, the model is shown to be contractive and the optimal reinsurance policy to be stationary. The results are illustrated with examples where the optimal policy can be determined explicitly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urgency of the state budget issue has no time limit. From the time of Ancient Rome to the present day, the question of how exactly to allocate and plan financial resources for the next 365 (366 in the case of a leap year) becomes every year in the country. The concept and structure of the State Budget of Ukraine are defined. The concept and structure of the state budget of Ukraine according to normative legal acts, the concept and structure of revenues of the state budget of Ukraine and the concept of expenditures of the state budget of Ukraine are analyzed and defined. The article analyzes the levels of revenues and expenditures of the State Budget of Ukraine from 2015 to 2021, as well as forecasts the amount of revenues and expenditures of the State Budget of Ukraine for 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization has changed the way companies do business in the world by trying to reach the objective of having a greater presence in more countries through strategic alliances, company acquisitions, investment projects, among others. For this purpose, companies need decision-making support to generate strategies that consider consumer demands in order to consolidate their presence. The aim of this study is to propose a novel methodology to facilitate the generation of efficient strategic planning in the financial area of the company. The proposed approach is based on the historical recognition of patterns and prediction of scenarios for multi-criteria ordinal classification using a recent classifier method. A Back-testing comparison with a benchmark is performed to show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retirement is an important phase of life, bringing with it many challenges in terms of adjustments and changes in lifestyle, self-esteem, friendships, and vocation. In the context of Bangladesh, most of the employees retire after working for many years, therefore their bonding with their work is strong and their life is meaningful once they were attached to work. Therefore, retirement impels to making changes in daily routine, bringing disengagement from work and the individual may enters into a state of devaluation. Retirement may offer an opportunity to establish a more preferable rhythm in life, but, on the other hand, retirement may also lead to some social and personal challenges. The focus of this study is to review and assess the literature towords various dimensions of retirement planning. The literature is reviewed from various articles on retirement planning from various sources which are further synethesised to derive the interpretations. The findings and outcome of the study emphasises on the significance of retirement planning, the importance of financial literacy to smoothen the retirement planning and elements that contributes towards the successful life after retirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of grounding the analysis of private transnational human rights governance, the article examines how a European reinsurance company links its human rights policy to its core business of underwriting risks in the case of Belo Monte, a large hydroelectric dam in the Brazilian Amazon. Based on the current international regulatory framework, the global political economy of reinsurance is becoming a constitutive element of human rights governance. Conceptualising underwriting as a social practice, we observe how human rights norms are translated into the corporate form of risks. This process goes beyond questions of norm compliance and involves practices of valuation and boundary-drawing based on the underwriter's competences and background knowledge about reinsurance markets, value chains and corporate hierarchies. We conclude with a critique of private governance as an institutional pillar of the human rights system that rests on business rationales rather than lending institutional power to rights-holders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]