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In insurance, proposing an accurate premium that is adjusted to the insured risk profile allows companies to better manage their portfolios and to be more competitive. Machine learning methods have recently been adopted for various improvements in insurance ratemaking, especially in the automobile industry. These models are specifically used to mine potential data information and to build a predictive model for a variable of interest using explanatory variables. In this paper, we aim to provide a pricing method for ratemaking individual healthcare insurance contracts using machine learning algorithms that are applied to a Tunisian healthcare insurance portfolio. We start with a simple Classification and Regression Tree, and we work toward more advanced methods that are Random Forest, Extreme gradient boosting, Support Vector Regression, and Artificial Neural network regression model. The predictive performance of these non-parametric methods is compared with the standard generalized linear model. Our results showed the applicability of machine learning in the healthcare insurance market and that the XGBoost algorithm outperforms the predictive capacity of the classical generalized linear model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political frictions significantly affect both pricing and supply in the long-term care insurance (LTCI) market. Comparing the same insurer's requests submitted for the same policy at the same time to different state regulators, we find that they are 13% more likely to be approved and receive 4% more of the requested amount after an election year. Over time, regulatory pushback on premium increase requests leads to persistently lower cash reserves and increases the probability of company dropout. An insurer who receives one-standard-deviation less of their requested increase is 20% more likely to leave the market next year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the importance of cyber insurance for water utilities as part of a robust cybersecurity strategy. It highlights the complexity of selecting the right insurance coverage and provides a framework for determining the events that should be covered. The text emphasizes the need for organizations to understand the potential impacts of cyberattacks and to work with insurance experts to secure adequate coverage. The article aims to guide water utilities in analyzing their insurance needs and discussing the results with insurance brokers to ensure comprehensive coverage. [Extracted from the article]

The article explores the role of government versus private sector provision of insurance in managing risks such as natural disasters, cyberattacks, and health crises. It discusses market failures, information asymmetries, and correlated risks that can destabilize private insurers, leading to government intervention. The text highlights the historical justifications for government involvement in insurance markets, focusing on issues like adverse selection, moral hazard, and the need for public programs in catastrophic insurance. It also delves into the evolving dynamics between government and private sector roles in insurance provision, emphasizing the importance of ongoing research to ensure the resilience and stability of insurance markets. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the impact of emerging insurance technologies, particularly ChatGPT, on the insurance industry. It explores the effects of new insurance solutions, changes in insurance companies and marketplaces, and the role of behavioral factors in transitioning to digital insurance products. The text also delves into the value generated by new technologies in insurance economics, such as lowering costs, reducing financial risk, reducing consumer hassles, and reducing uncertainty. Additionally, it raises questions about the boundaries between risk classification and erosion of risk protection, the increase in correlated cyber and algorithmic loss events, and the potential for technology to improve risk prevention and mitigation. [Extracted from the article]

While it is well known that supplementary private Disability Insurance (DI) has the potential to increase workers' moral hazard, the extra coverage may also increase incentives for private insurers to reduce caseloads by means of prevention and reintegration activities. With unique administrative data on DI contracts of firms in the Netherlands, this paper aims to disentangle these worker and insurer responses to increased coverage. Supplementary insurance increases the insurers' incentive to lower disability risks, but in our setting it also creates an incentive for the insurers to facilitate partial work resumption of disabled workers who have earnings capacity. Using firm‐ and time‐fixed effects models on the absence and employment rates, we find that insurer effort counteracts workers' moral hazard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying insurance fraud is a difficult task due to the complex nature of the fraud itself, the diversity of techniques employed, the rarity of fraud cases observed in data sets, and the relatively limited allocation of human, financial, and time resources to carry out investigations. The aim of this paper is to provide a clean and well structured study on modeling fraud on home insurance contracts, using real French data from 2013 to 2017. Several methods are developed to identify risk factors and unusual customer behaviors. Traditional econometric models as well as new machine‐learning algorithms with good predictive performance and high operational efficiency are tested, while maintaining method interpretability. Each methodology is evaluated on the basis of adequate performance measures and the issue of imbalanced databases is also addressed. Finally, specific methods are applied to interpret the results of the machine‐learning methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the great potential of agribusiness that can lead to job creation employment and economic prosperity, the majority of the youths seem to have jettison the economic opportunities. Specifically, the study objectives are to ascertain the components that motivate Nigerian youths to set out into agribusiness in rural communities, examine the challenges of Nigerian youths' employability skills in agribusiness of the rural communities in southwest Nigeria, and assess the mechanisms to confront the challenges being faced by Nigerian youths' employability skills in agribusiness of the rural communities in southwest Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. A questionnaire was used to collect adequate data from the target respondents (youths in agribusiness), with a sample size of 100. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted to sample the rural communities and the respondents. The study reveals that the inability to get a job pushed youths into agribusiness (71 per cent); lack of insurance policy towards agribusiness (88 per cent) and regular training towards incubation purposes is good leverage for youth employability (78 per cent). It, therefore, recommends that relevant stakeholders should further make agribusiness more lucrative by coming up with policies that will entice youths to venture into agribusiness. Also, relevant stakeholders should work towards the complete eradication of the impediments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the adverse selection problem in the BI insurance market under asymmetric information, this paper designs a hybrid BI insurance contract with interruption compensation, reward, and penalty based on the principal‐agent theory. It is found that regardless of the existence of two or more risk types in the BI insurance market, the hybrid BI insurance contract will be a strict Pareto improvement of the traditional partial insurance contract that is replicated twice. Meanwhile, we validate and extend the above conclusions through an arithmetic example, which provides more comprehensive theoretical support for insurance companies to design new BI insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides novel insights into the design of insurance contracts for repetitive losses from natural disasters, such as typhoons, hurricanes, and wildfires, which have become more frequent in recent years due to climate change. This study considers ex-ante and ex-post moral hazards. When a loss occurs twice, an individual's share of each loss, which is the difference between the loss and insurance coverage, is a non-decreasing function of the loss. The optimal insurance for each loss involves full insurance up to a certain limit and partial insurance above that limit. Optimal partial insurance is represented by non-linear coinsurance, which can be either convex or concave in each loss, depending on absolute risk aversion (ARA), prudence, and the shape of the loss distribution. Although the two losses are independent, the insurer adjusts its estimate of the insured's effort level by observing the second loss. Consequently, insurance coverage for the second loss is adjusted in addition to any additional reward or penalty for the first loss. Insurance coverage for the second loss also involves a fixed reimbursement (upper limit) or deductible depending on whether the partial insurance is concave or convex in loss, similar to that for the first loss. However, in the case of decreasing ARA (DARA), the optimal form of partial insurance for the first and second losses can be different, with a deductible versus a fixed reimbursement (or vice versa). We illustrate the results under a loss distribution belonging to a one-dimensional exponential family with a canonical form and specific utility functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents empirical research about the defensive behavior of air pollution, that is, health insurance purchases. Using transaction-level data from a large insurance company, covering more than half a million insurance contracts from nineteen cities in China from 2014 to 2018, we empirically imply that an increase of 10% in AQI leads to a 0.37% uptick in the number of daily sales of health insurance contracts by the company within the city. The effect is non-linear and is more pronounced when the AQI exceeds 200. Besides, the defensive cost for a one-unit increase in AQI accounts for around 1.70% of individual income annually. We demonstrate that the positive impact of air pollution on health insurance purchases is primarily driven by health management awareness and social interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To analyze the pilot policies for long-term care insurance and provide recommendations for optimizing these policies. Methods Utilizing the PMC index model, we constructed nine primary variable indicators and 45 secondary variable indicators to evaluate long-term care insurance policies. Results Common issues across various regions included insufficient policy levels, unclear policy timelines, and inadequate incentive and constraint mechanisms. Conclusion It is necessary to elevate policy levels and further enhance the governmentJ s coordination and collaboration, clarify policy timelines to achieve an organic integration of short, medium, and long-term planning, and improve incentive and constraint measures to effectively increase participation in insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We revisit surplus on general life insurance contracts, represented by Markov models. We classify technical bases in terms of boundary conditions in Thiele's equation(s), allowing more general regulations than Scandinavian-style 'first-order/second-order' regimes, and replacing the traditional retrospective policy value. We propose a 'canonical' model with three technical bases (premium, valuation, accumulation) and show how each pair of bases defines premium loadings and surplus. Along with a 'true' or 'real-world' experience basis, this expands fundamental results of Ramlau-Hansen [(1988b). The emergence of profit in life insurance. Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, 7(4), 225–236]. We conclude with two applications: lapse-supported business; and the retrospectively-oriented regime proposed by Møller and Steffensen [(2007). Market-valuation methods in life and pension insurance. Cambridge University Press]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Methods Results Conclusions Plain Language Summary The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) allowed Americans aged 19–25 years to remain on their parents' health insurance plans until age 26 years (the Dependent Care Expansion [DCE]). Have those with cancer diagnoses benefited?The ACE DCE 7‐year age range of 19–25 years was compared for changes in cancer survival and mortality before and after enactment of the ACA with groups that were younger and older (in 7‐year age spans: ages 12–18 and 26–32 years, respectively). Cancer death data for the entire United States were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and relative survival data of patients who were diagnosed with cancer were obtained from the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results regions representing 42%–44% of the country.Joinpoint analysis identified the DCE‐eligible cohort as the only age group of the three groups evaluated that have had improvements in both cancer survival and death rate trends after ACA implementation and that 2010, the year the ACA was passed, was the inflection year for both survival and deaths. By 6 years, the relative survival after cancer diagnosis was 2.6 and 3.9 times greater in the DCE‐eligible age group than in the younger and older control groups, respectively (both p < .001), and the cancer death rate in the DCE‐eligible age group improved 2.1 and 1.5 times greater than in the younger and older control age groups, respectively (both p < .01).During the first decade of the ACA, eligible young adults with cancer have had significantly improved survival and mortality. Additional policies expanding insurance coverage and enabling earlier cancer diagnosis among young adults are needed. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Dependent Care Expansion (DCE) that began in the United States in 2011 allowed young adults aged 19–25 years to remain on their parents' health insurance plans until age 26 years. The survival rate at 6 years in young adult patients diagnosed with cancer was 2.6 to 3.9 times greater in the DCE‐eligible age group compared with the younger and older age groups, and the rate of deaths from cancer improved 1.5 to 2.1 times more. During the first decade of the ACA, young adults with cancer who were in the eligible group had significantly longer survival and reduced deaths from cancer. Additional policies that expand insurance coverage and allow the diagnosis of cancer sooner are needed in young adults. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Dependent Care Expansion (DCE) that began in the United States in 2011 allowed young adults aged 19–25 years to remain on their parents' health insurance plans until age 26 years.The survival rate at 6 years in young adult patients diagnosed with cancer was 2.6 to 3.9 times greater in the DCE‐eligible age group compared with the younger and older age groups, and the rate of deaths from cancer improved 1.5 to 2.1 times more.During the first decade of the ACA, young adults with cancer who were in the eligible group had significantly longer survival and reduced deaths from cancer.Additional policies that expand insurance coverage and allow the diagnosis of cancer sooner are needed in young adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study took a comprehensive approach to considering residents' demands and investigated the intentions of residents in Hebei Province to participate in LTCI, exploring the potential for individual participation. By integrating the unique Chinese context and existing literature, this study established a theoretical framework for research hypotheses concerning the influencing factors of residents' participation intentions. Leveraging a sample of 516 survey responses, we employed structural equation modeling (SEM) and hierarchical regression analysis (HRA) for validation. The research revealed that the heterogeneity of resident attributes has a significant influence on their participation intentions, and a gap exists between residents' attitudes and intentions, leading to a scenario where attitudes are high but intentions are low. Moreover, perceived usefulness, risk perception, and perceived trust were found to directly affect residents' intentions and could indirectly affect intentions through the mediating effect of attitudes. Additionally, the moderating role of policy support is instrumental in facilitating the translation of attitudes into actual intentions, bridging the gap between attitudes and participation intentions. These findings will assist researchers in gaining a deeper understanding of Chinese residents' participation intentions and their underlying influencing factors, ultimately providing a solid foundation for government policy formulation and insurance companies' strategic adjustments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes an original perspective on the origins and formation of the modern welfare state, arguing that the openness of national economies had a critical influence upon the kind of social insurance policies each country would adopt before World War I. If we classify Western national economies into two typical types, the free-trade open economy (FOE) and the protectionist closed economy (PCE), depending on their trade policy, we can make two hypotheses. FOE, which is under heavy pressure from international competition, is more sensitive than PCE to the increase in employers' cost. Therefore, hypothesis (1) is: PCE would precede FOE in introducing social insurance which involves considerable cost increases for employers. Hypothesis (2) is: if FOE dares to undertake a social insurance scheme, they would likely create social insurance that relies on general tax revenues to mitigate cost increases for employers. On the contrary, PCE can undertake social insurance schemes that involve considerable cost increases for employers more easily than FOE, as protective tariffs countervail their cost increases to some extent. Through the comparative analysis of all major Western countries, this article demonstrates the validity of these hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the bilateral involvement of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in South Koreans. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2017–2020). This study included 13,737 participants aged 40 years or older. Participants were evaluated to determine the prevalence of bilateral early and late AMD. In cases in which exudative AMD or geographic atrophy (GA) was diagnosed in a single eye, the fellow eye was evaluated to determine the presence and type of late AMD. Results: The overall prevalence of bilateral AMD was 6.12% (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.63–6.61). The prevalence of bilateral early AMD was 5.71% (95% CI, 5.24–6.18), while that of late AMD was 0.14% (95% CI, 0.08–0.20). The prevalence of the bilateral involvement of late AMD increased with age. A 0.02% prevalence (95% CI, 0.00–0.06) of late AMD was observed in participants aged 50–59. The prevalence increased to 0.08% (95% CI, 0.00–0.18) in participants aged 60–69, while the prevalence in participants aged 70–79 and over 80 was 0.45% (95% CI, 0.12–0.78) and 1.97% (95% CI, 0.75–3.19), respectively. The prevalence of early AMD in one eye and late AMD in the fellow eye was 0.26% (95% CI, 0.16–0.36). Conclusions: An assessment of the incidence of AMD revealed that a significant number of persons had bilateral involvement. The treatment burden may significantly increase for participants with bilateral late AMD compared to those with unilateral involvement. Therefore, the study may be helpful with the establishment of private and national insurance policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Index insurance programs in developing countries have focused almost entirely on agricultural production risk (i.e., yield) while largely avoiding output marketing risk (i.e., price). This omission may miss an important constraint on smallholder investment and may partially explain underwhelming demand for yield‐based insurance policies. Here, we explore the viability of an area‐revenue index insurance policy and how its performance may compare to that of an area‐yield index insurance policy. Using data from Ghana, we estimate reduced‐form regression analysis and calibrate a simulation model, generating several important results. We show that there is a negative correlation between farm investment and covariate price risk. Moreover, our simulation predicts that in many market contexts, area‐revenue index insurance suffers from less basis risk, exhibits higher demand, and is more effective at crowding in advanced input adoption compared to area‐yield index insurance. Our results also demonstrate important contexts in which area‐yield index insurance outperforms area‐revenue index insurance. We therefore find that revenue insurance may be a valuable and impactful product in Ghana but would not outperform area‐yield index insurance in all contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Markov chains play a key role in a vast number of areas, including life insurance mathematics. Standard actuarial quantities as the premium value can be interpreted as compressed, lossy information about the underlying Markov process. We introduce a method to reconstruct the underlying Markov chain given collective information of a portfolio of contracts. Our neural architecture characterizes the process in a highly explainable way by explicitly providing one-step transition probabilities. Further, we provide an intrinsic, economic model validation to inspect the quality of the information decompression. Lastly, our methodology is successfully tested for a realistic data set of German term life insurance contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The concept of Takaful in Islamic jurisprudence has a history as old as the history of Islam, but the use of Takaful in the insurance industry and in its literal sense dates back to about a century ago. Since the concept of insurance became popular in Islamic countries, Imamiyyah jurists have theorized about it as one of the relevant emerging issues. Some consider insurance a legitimate independent contract, whereas some believe that, apart from considering the insurance contract as independent or not, it can be ensured by matching the insurance to one of the Islamic contracts. The opinions of this group of jurists have a significant similarity with the term Takaful. Based on this, the aim of this article is to extract Takaful jurisprudential concepts from the Mahud contracts stated in the insurance fatwas of this group of Imamiyyah jurists, considering their similarity with common contracts in Takaful operational models. METHODS: This research is of an applied type and has been carried out in a qualitative method using the library method and document study. The statistical population of this research is jurisprudential and scientific opinions of authorities, jurists, and scholars of Imamiyyah. FINDINGS: Imami jurists, before abstracting a concept called Takaful, provided the Shariah form of insurance with peace contracts, mudharabah and gift in exchange. The same issue has also appeared in Takaful raised by Sunnis. In fact, by taking advantage of the mentioned contracts, Shariah Takaful funds are also provided. In other words, Imami jurists were theorists of Takaful and Sunni jurists were Takaful implementers. CONCLUSION: By extracting the jurisprudential concepts of Takaful from the contracts stated in the Fatwas of Imamiyyah jurists and comparing them with the typical contracts in the operating models of Takaful, it can be said that the existence of contracts such as mutual peace, constitutional gift, partnership, mudharabah, etc. in the opinions and fatwas of Imamiyyah insurance jurists is accepted and repeated, and the existence of similarities between Imamiyya jurists’ fatwas and Takaful models is undeniable. In addition, some jurists, in addition to amending the insurance contract, have considered it permissible to add things such as making a profit to customers for this purpose, which, although this issue is not in accordance with the principles of common insurance, it is in accordance with the principles of Takaful. Based on this, it can be said that since the beginning of the introduction of insurance into Islamic societies, the Imamiyya scholars have expressed some concepts of Takaful in their insurance fatwas, but since most of them considered the insurance contract a legitimate independent contract, Takaful concepts in this aspect have not been welcomed by the jurists and Insurers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In order to create a secondary life insurance market in which life insurance policy holders can easily sell their insurance policies, it is necessary to identify and investigate the legal bases and effects of life insurance policy assignments so as to set up the relevant rules governing this market. In this regard, this research seeks to examine the legal challenges of transferring life insurance policies from one person to another. METHODS: Legal analysis is done using legal texts, including jurisprudence, legal books, and domestic and foreign published articles. Based on this, the working method in this article will be library, analytical, and descriptive one. In this way, the juridical and legal foundations of life insurance transfer are examined first, and then the nature of the transfer contract is studied, and finally, the effects and rulings resulting from this transfer are analyzed accordingly. FINDINGS: Regarding the rules governing life insurance in Iran’s legal system, unlike many legal systems in the world, not many laws have been approved and this part has been neglected by the legislator. This is the basis for the emergence of disagreements regarding the rulings related to this insurance. Most of the provisions related to the life insurance policy in Iran should be extracted from the general conditions of the life insurance policy and the law is silent about most of the cases. CONCLUSION: This article shows that it is possible to transfer a life insurance policy and extract rulings governing this transfer based on the current laws and regulations in Iran’s legal system using general regulations to a large extent. Based on the principle of freedom of contract transfer, it is allowed to transfer any contract that is not based on an individual. The effects of this transition are discussed in detail in the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increased unpredictability and severity of weather patterns caused by climate change, traditional farming practices and risk management strategies are becoming increasingly inadequate. In this paper, we explore the literature to understand the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in mitigating climate-related agricultural risks and the pivotal role that public institutions play in encouraging farmers to adopt such technologies. We propose a framework to integrate AI into government-subsidized insurance structures, focusing on reduced premiums through government intervention. We argue that AI's potential to reduce the uncertainty and severity of climate-induced damages could lower the overall risk profile of insured farmers, thereby justifying lower premiums in the long run. We further discuss the implications of such policies on insurance markets, agricultural sustainability, and global food security. Our initial exploration contributes to the literature by addressing a relatively underexplored intersection of two critical fields—agricultural insurance and artificial intelligence—suggesting directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the impact of insurance services and the sustainability of businesses in the Nigerian informal sector. The analysis relies on extant literature sourced from various sources to develop an understanding of the current trends of insurance services in the Nigerian informal sector and develop a suggested model for improved insurance service delivery in the Nigerian informal sector. Findings show that stakeholder commitment is necessary for better impact of insurance services in the sector. The conclusion emphasizes the possibility of business sustainability through consolidated insurance services among stakeholders in the sector. Part of the suggestion for further research is the need for a wider focus on insurance practices both in the formal and informal sectors of the Nigerian economy. This is coupled with an exploratory view on the impact of policy development on insurance support to business activities in the Nigerian informal sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates an optimal investment‐reinsurance problem for an insurer who possesses inside information regarding the future realizations of the claim process and risky asset process. The insurer sells insurance contracts, has access to proportional reinsurance business, and invests in a financial market consisting of three assets: one risk‐free asset, one bond, and one stock. Here, the nominal interest rate is characterized by the Vasicek model, and the stock price is driven by Heston's stochastic volatility model. Applying the enlargement of filtration techniques, we establish the optimal control problem in which an insurer maximizes the expected power utility of the terminal wealth. By using the dynamic programming principle, the problem can be changed to four‐dimensional Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation. In addition, we adopt a deep neural network method by which the partial differential equation is converted to two backward stochastic differential equations and solved by a stochastic gradient descent‐type optimization procedure. Numerical results obtained using TensorFlow in Python and the economic behavior of the approximate optimal strategy and the approximate optimal utility of the insurer are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South African subsistence livestock farmers rely heavily on traditional mitigation and coping mechanisms to deal with the effects of drought. However, these methods have proven ineffective in managing the full impact of drought. Consequently, policymakers are increasingly interested in promoting Index-based Pasture Insurance (IBPI). This paper aims to assess subsistence livestock farmers' preferences for IBPI. A simple random sampling method was used to select 110 subsistence livestock farmers for data collection. A discrete choice experiment—Conditional Logit and Latent Class models and incentivized lottery games were used to elicit preferences for insurance contracts and loss aversion. The findings indicate that subsistence livestock farmers have a favourable attitude toward IBPI contracts that protect against drought-related pasture degradation. The Conditional Logit model shows that farmers prefer transparent contracts that reimburse with feed and vouchers rather than cash. However, they derive negative marginal utility from basis risk and premium. However, the Latent Class model reveals heterogeneous preferences for IBPI among farmers. Farmers are also loss-averse, but loss aversion did not influence their preference for IBPI. Therefore, the primary recommendation for insurance providers is to consider customizing IBPI attributes to increase adoption among subsistence farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among measures tackling the impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic, the selling of private insurance policies covering individual infection is overlooked by the ethics literature. To record the "COVID Claimania" in Taiwan and to assess its ethical implications, we collected 38 policies from 10 insurers sold between January 2020 and May 2022 and found that their risk calculation of the COVID‐19 prevalence ranged from 0.5% to 11.08%. In reality, the prevalence by the end of 2022 was 37% in Taiwan. Selling private insurance policies is ethically problematic in three ways. First, it represents the insurance industry's irresponsible risk‐taking profit‐seeking behaviors. Second, it would jeopardize the effectiveness of the disease‐prevention measures by inducing uncontrollable moral hazards. Third, it would expose the insurance companies to unbearable financial risks and cause substantial negative external impacts. The government should intervene in the private insurance market in preparation for future public health emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographic inequality among regions of the United States has grown substantially over the past 40 years, accompanied by economic and social challenges. We consider the role that national social insurance transfer programs, such as Social Security and the earned income tax credit (EITC), play in reducing geographic inequality. Although these programs are not spatially targeted and do not have an explicit goal of reducing geographic inequality, they nonetheless have that outcome because they are disproportionately received by residents of low-income regions. We show that social transfers reduced interregional inequality in 2019 by 12 percent, equivalent to reversing 28.6 percent of the growth in pretransfer inequality since the 1970s. Retirement benefits contributed the largest total reduction in inequality, whereas programs that were federally administered but whose recipients disproportionately lived in low-income regions—such as veterans' benefits, the EITC, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—had the greatest spending-adjusted reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conversational robots (chatbots) are currently an extended Insurtech that is widely used to enable policyholders' communication with insurance firms. This paper analyses customers' acceptance of chatbots in procedures with regard to in-force policies. We analysed a semistructured survey answered by workers of a public Spanish university. Structured questions have been grounded in the well-known technology acceptance model (TAM), which is based on two explanatory variables: perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU). We have also considered two additional explanatory factors: social influence (SI), whose impact on behavioral intention (BI) is mediated by PU, and trust (TRUST), whose influence on BI is supposed to be made throughout PU and PEOU. Likewise, we asked two open questions about the advantages and disadvantages of chatbot use to make procedures linked with in-force insurance contracts. We performed our analysis by using quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative analysis tests the suitability of TAM on our data and has been performed by using structural equation modelling with partial least squares (PLS-SEM). Subsequently, to reach a deeper understanding of the reasons that explain the respondents' behavioral intention, we provide a systematic overview of the answers to open questions with the help of the groundwork provided by TAM. We have checked that the basic TAM along with social influence and trust provide a satisfactory explanation for behavioral intention toward bots. Likewise, we have observed a general reluctance toward the use of chatbots. The qualitative analysis showed that arguments explaining resistance come from all explanatory factors considered in the paper. Therefore, mainstream responses have outlined that interaction with chatbots is difficult, and many times, the procedure must be finished with the assistance of a human operator. Likewise, many responses point out as a relevant drawback that they provide a dehumanized service without empathy. Consequently, interactions with chatbots are perceived as cumbersome, ineffective, and a loss of time. Although some people perceive that the faster service provided by chatbots in concrete circumstances is an advantage, other theoretical consequences that may add value, such as temporal flexibility and the possibility of proving better services with the same cost and/or reducing insurance prices because of the reduction of firms' administrative costs, are generally not perceived. Our findings have theoretical and practical implications. We have shown that TAM provides a reliable theoretical model to understand policyhoders' acceptance of chatbot technology in an insurance setting. Perceived usefulness, reliability, social opinion about bot adoption, and usability must be improved to avoid generalized policyholders' reluctance. That resistance is because of issues such as conversational skills, the capability to provide an interaction closer to being human, and users' perception that chatbots actually add value to policyholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, building, home contents, and comprehensive car insurance facilitate the accumulation of assets associated with rational, responsible citizenship while promising protection in case of events such as fire, flooding, car accident, or theft. Yet many Australians lack these insurance products, risking exposure to devastating financial losses when disaster strikes. This article compares the findings of online surveys of insured and uninsured Australians and explores the factors driving some to forego insurance coverage. Our findings show that inability to afford premiums is a major driver of noninsurance in Australia, particularly for people with low levels of disposable income and assets, or those living in areas affected by rising disaster risk. Yet the decision to forego insurance is also influenced by attitudes to financial matters. Australians who forego insurance have lower levels of trust in insurance and are less likely to consider themselves under a social obligation to be insured. However, contrary to portrayals of the uninsured as risk‐takers, the decision to forego coverage does not appear to be driven by lesser risk aversion among uninsured Australians relative to those who do purchase building, home contents, and comprehensive car insurance policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving Disaster Preparedness Through Mutual Catastrophe Insurance In "A Mutual Catastrophe Insurance Framework for Horizontal Collaboration in Prepositioning Strategic Reserves," H. Zbib, B. Balcik, M.-È. Rancourt, and G. Laporte present an innovative approach to collaborative disaster preparedness. The novel framework considers a risk-averse mutual insurer offering multiyear insurance contracts with coverage deductibles and limits to a portfolio of risk-averse policyholders. It is designed to foster horizontal collaboration among policyholders for joint disaster preparedness by effectively integrating operational and financial functions. The problem is modeled as a large-scale nonlinear multistage stochastic program and solved by using an effective Benders decomposition algorithm. The framework is validated with real data from 18 Caribbean countries focusing on hurricane preparedness. Given the predicted impacts of climate change, the proposed multiyear mutual catastrophe insurance framework promises to reshape global disaster preparedness and make a profound societal impact by providing a transparent disaster financing plan to protect vulnerable regions. The study's findings stress the importance of long-term cooperation, prenegotiation of indemnification policies, and strategic setting of deductibles and limits by taking into account the correlation between policyholders. We develop a mutual catastrophe insurance framework for the prepositioning of strategic reserves to foster horizontal collaboration in preparedness against low-probability high-impact natural disasters. The framework consists of a risk-averse insurer pooling the risks of a portfolio of risk-averse policyholders. It encompasses the operational functions of planning the prepositioning network in preparedness for incoming insurance claims, in the form of units of strategic reserves, setting coverage deductibles and limits of policyholders, and providing insurance coverage to the claims in the emergency response phase. It also encompasses the financial functions of ensuring the insurer's solvency by efficiently managing its capital and allocating yearly premiums among policyholders. We model the framework as a very large-scale nonlinear multistage stochastic program, and solve it through a Benders decomposition algorithm. We study the case of Caribbean countries establishing a horizontal collaboration for hurricane preparedness. Our results show that the collaboration is more effective when established over a longer planning horizon, and is more beneficial when outsourcing becomes expensive. Moreover, the correlation of policyholders affected simultaneously under the extreme realizations and the position of their claims in their global claims distribution directly affects which policyholders get deductibles and limits. This underlines the importance of prenegotiating policyholders' indemnification policies at the onset of collaboration. Funding: G. Laporte and M.-È. Rancourt were funded by the Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) [Grants 2015-06189 and 2022-04846]. Funding was also provided by the Institute for Data Valorisation (IVADO) and the Canada Research Chair in Humanitarian Supply Chain Analytics. B. Balcik was partially supported by a grant from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) 2219 program. This support is gratefully acknowledged. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.2021.0141. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academia and governments have shown interest in studying the influence of the global economic policy uncertainty index (GEPU) and the geopolitical risk index (GPR) on insurance development. Several empirical studies have been conducted to examine the influence of GEPU and GPR on insurance development. Nevertheless, the empirical results failed to achieve consensus. This study aims to study the asymmetric impacts of the GEPU and the GPR on insurance sector development in ASEAN from 1990 to 2020. We used the linear panel autoregressive distributed lag (PARDL) approach and the asymmetric panel autoregressive distributed lag (PNARDL) approach. The results from the linear panel ARDL showed that GEPU and GPR had an impact on non-life insurance (NI), but both variables did not have an impact on life insurance (LI). Furthermore, the asymmetric panel ARDL showed no significant impact of positive shocks from GEPU had a positive impact on LI and NI, but the negative shocks from GEPU only had a positive impact on NI. Positive and negative shocks from GEPU lead to an increase in the NI. Interestingly, we found that the positive shocks of GPR led to an increase in NI, but positive or negative shocks of GPR did not have an impact on LI. Policymakers in ASEAN should closely look at the GEPU and the GPR for insurance policy development. JEL Codes: E6, G0 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyberspace is a dynamic ecosystem consisting of interconnected data, devices, and individuals, with multiple network layers comprising identifiable nodes. Location‐based information can significantly improve cyber resilience decision‐making and facilitate the development of innovative cyber risk pricing tools. This article is based on a methodology that uses company geospatial data to accurately estimate the number of expected losses arising from cyberattacks. Our approach aims to build and compare statistical spatial models that allow pricing cyber policies more effectively than traditional non‐spatial methods by incorporating all available data. By accounting for spatial dependence, we can assess the risk of data breaches and contribute to the design of more efficient cyber risk policies for the insurance market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As extreme weather events continue to impact every continent and the world moves towards establishing a lower-carbon economy, the banking industry is expected to incorporate climate risk into their risk management practices. Climate change poses significant risks to bank loan portfolios through increased physical and transition risks. This study systematically analysed the literature to identify effective strategies for managing these risks. Our findings reveal that climate-related events can lead to substantial loan defaults and credit losses. To mitigate these impacts, banks can integrate climate risk into their risk management frameworks, adopt sustainable lending practices, and diversify their portfolios. Some banks have already implemented measures to mitigate climate risk through insurance policies, while others are incorporating sustainability criteria into their lending practices, such as financing green projects. By proactively addressing climate risks, banks can protect their portfolios, enhance financial resilience and contribute to a low-carbon economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pandemic has exposed the Russian economy's weaknesses, particularly its insurance industry. In the study, the following qualitative data were utilized: an analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the insurance market in various countries, an assessment of the economic impact of the pandemic on the insurance sector, an examination of trends in the global insurance market, and an evaluation of the effectiveness of insurance companies across different nations. Quantitative data were employed, including the volume of insurance premiums in various countries, the number of insurance contracts, the amount of insurance compensation, the number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Producer Price Index (PPI), and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The pandemic impact system was reproduced and built on the example of such countries as Russia, the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, and many others. It has been proven that the development trend of this industry under the pandemic influence is an economic downturn with a decline in profits but an increase in requirements. In some nations, such as the United States and Canada, there was a slowdown in the life and disability insurance market, whereas in other countries, such as China and South Korea, a rapid market expansion was observed. In Russia, the insurance market maintained a positive trajectory in 2021, despite the pandemic's impact. The volume of insurance premiums in Russia increased to 1.5 billion rubles in 2021. Europe and Central Asia experienced diverse effects of the pandemic on insurance markets. In Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, there was a decline in life insurance premiums, while Slovenia observed a positive growth trend. The study outlined the key issues that need to be addressed to reduce the repeated negative impact of pandemics to restore the global insurance market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive fertilizer input and inefficient utilization in agricultural production have caused significant negative environmental impacts. Based on provincial panel data in China from 2005 to 2021, this study adopts the full-cost insurance pilot launched in 2018 and uses the DID method to empirically analyze its impact on fertilizer application intensity and utilization efficiency. The study reveals the following findings: (1) Implementing full-cost insurance can reduce fertilizer application intensity by 21.761% and increase utilization efficiency by 1.915%. (2) Full-cost insurance reduces fertilizer application intensity and improves fertilizer utilization efficiency by expanding the land scale and reducing the agricultural labor force. (3) Full-cost insurance significantly improves fertilizer utilization efficiency in high-risk and low-risk areas. Nevertheless, while the policy significantly reduces fertilizer application intensity in high-risk areas, its effect on low-risk areas is not apparent. (4) Full-cost insurance has an environmental protection effect. It can significantly reduce 11.593% of nitrogen pollution emissions, 2.577% of phosphorus pollution emissions, and 35.400% of equivalent pollution emissions. The implementation of full-cost insurance plays an important role in reducing fertilizer use and improving utilization efficiency. So, we should continue to intensify the promotion of full-cost insurance policy to fully leverage the advantages of agricultural insurance and promote sustainable agricultural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Claims analysis and risk management is key to avoiding fraud and managing risk in the life insurance industry. Though visualization plays a fundamental role in supporting analysis tasks in the business domain, exploring user behaviour remains a challenging task. The prevalence of natural language interactions enhanced with data visualization has become quite the norm. With the increasing demand for visualization tools and varying levels of user expertise, the use of a natural language interface (NLI) is common. However, the design of visual analytics tools enhanced by NLIs for risk management and claim analysis requires thorough task analysis and domain expertise. In this work, we investigate an alternative approach through a natural language interaction-based interactive visualization such as a chart, pie chart, or histogram, which can be used for insurance claim analysis and risk management. We design a new visual analytics solution named InsCRMVis which is enhanced by NLIs. We present an expert evaluation of InsCRMVis based on the Task Load Index questionnaire which is currently the standard metrics measure to investigate its usability (effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction) to support human task performance. To evaluate its performance, we performed a user study of ten experts which suggests that InsCRMVis can provide better insights and assistance to insurance managers in reducing loss and guiding changes to insurance premium policies. Furthermore, we provide a concise set of guidelines that can be used when visualizing risk to avoid dangers in the insurance domain. We discuss the challenges associated with the use of a visualization system in the insurance industry, focusing on aspects related to visualization research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many studies have described barriers to gender-affirming surgery (GAS) in Canada; however, few have explored why these barriers persist. To address this knowledge gap, we sought to describe documents related to public health insurance (Medicare) for GAS to identify the types of procedures covered, variations in coverage across provinces and territories, and changes in policy over time. Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study using an environmental scan approach. We queried 23 government websites, the Google search engine, and an online legal database between July 2022 and April 2024 to gather gray literature documents related to GAS and Medicare. Variables from relevant documents were compiled to create a present, at-glance overview of GAS Medicare coverage for all provinces and territories and a timeline of policy changes across Canada. Results: Eight provinces and three territories had documents or websites related to GAS Medicare coverage (85%). We identified 15 GAS procedures that were covered variably across Canada. Yukon (n = 14) covered the most types of GAS, while Quebec and Saskatchewan covered the least (n = 6). Mastectomy and genital surgeries were covered across Canada, but other GAS were rarely covered. Five provinces and territories provided coverage for travel-related costs. Our GAS Medicare timeline showed differential expansion of GAS coverage in Canada over the last 25 years. Conclusions : We provide previously unreported information regarding GAS Medicare coverage in Canada. We hope our findings will help patients and healthcare providers navigate a complicated public healthcare system. We also highlight barriers within GAS Medicare documents and make recommendations to alleviate those barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early termination of an insurance contract (surrender) and sharing of the investment return are the two basic option features of traditional insurance products, such as term insurance and endowment insurance. Managing the process of insurance policies surrenders leads us to research the dynamic of surrender. All the examples use the methods for calculating the technical provisions and the profit set out in Solvency II and the international financial reporting standard IFRS 17, valid since 2023. The paper also presents examples of the valuation of surrender value options in the case of dynamic policyholder behaviour. The Monte Carlo approach through the use of stochastic models places a value on investment sharing and surrenders value options. Using a dynamic policyholder surrender behaviour technique leads to a more significant impact on the profit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Economic deprivation is expected to influence cancer mortality due to its impact on screening and treatment options, as well as healthy lifestyle. However, the relationship between insurance type, premiums, and mortality rates remains unclear. This study investigated the relationship between insurance type and mortality in patients with newly diagnosed cancer using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Database. Methods: this retrospective cohort study included 111,941 cancer patients diagnosed between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2008, with a median follow-up period of 13.41 years. The insurance types were categorized as regional and workplace subscribers and income-based insurance premiums were divided into tertiles (T1, T2, and T3). Results: Cox proportional hazards regression analysis adjusted for age, lifestyle factors, health metrics, and comorbidities showed workplace subscribers (n = 76,944) had a lower all-cause mortality hazard ratio (HR) (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.940 [0.919–0.961]) compared to regional subscribers (n = 34,997). Higher income tertiles (T2, T3) were associated with lower mortality compared to the T1 group, notably in male regional and workplace subscribers, and female regional subscribers. Conclusion: The study identified that insurance types and premiums significantly influence mortality in cancer patients, highlighting the necessity for individualized insurance policies for cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]