Insurance Practice Research Articles

Nexus between climate change and oil palm production in Malaysia: a review.

Climate change is believed to be caused by natural processes such as volcanic eruptions, which release ash into the atmosphere, and anthropogenic activities that increase the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), which trap energy and cause intense warming. This article conducts a comprehensive review of existing literature relating to climate change and its impact on oil palm production in Malaysia. To enable analysis, articles were arranged, sorted, and categorized into various themes and associations based on the title of the article, abstract, and later the content. The findings reveal that climate change causes variability in the intensity and duration of rainfall, which ultimately affects the production of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) and the quality of crude palm oil (CPO). The decline in FFB increased the price of crude palm oil. The impacts of climate change on oil palm vary and are felt differently in different regions. Climate change increases the vulnerability and exposure of oil palms to various diseases, exposes them to water stress, and disrupts metabolic activities. The surface temperature in Malaysia is anticipated to rise by 1.5 to 2°C, worsening the adaptation plans. Oil palm growers explore possible ways to adapt to and withstand the impacts of climate change by adopting the use of an improved variety of oil palm seedlings, soil management and fertility preservation, silt pit, mulching, intercropping, livelihood diversification, buying insurance, and best water conservation practices.

Social policy of the state and the role of state programs in solving the problems of social protection of the population

Introduction. In a market economy, the process of state development is often accompanied by a drop in the standard of living of the population, a deterioration in the demographic situation in the country, a reduction in the average life expectancy of people, which makes it necessary to improve the effectiveness of the social protection system of citizens. When developing a social policy, the question of social priorities arises as one of the most important, that is, such social tasks that are currently the most urgent and urgent for society, require priority solutions, such as social protection of the working and non-working population, pension provision, social support for low-income segments of the population and the unemployed, etc. Materials and methods. During the preparation of the article the authors used conference materials, as well as in the review of sources – modern foreign periodicals. Results. The world practice of social insurance shows that the greatest social effect is achieved with the three-channel formation of insurance funds at the expense of contributions of employees, employers and the state. This method of financing ensures joint responsibility of the participants for the prevention and compensation of risks, joint management and control of the funds. In case of compulsory social insurance, the distribution is considered the most reasonable, when the biggest part of financing falls on the employer – 50%, 20-40% – on the state and 10-30% – on the employee. Conclusion. Based on the analysis of international experience, we can conclude that the most effective and comprehensive social protection systems usually include the following main elements: state benefits, compulsory social insurance, funded pensions, social assistance. Since the success of fundamental and profound social reforms depends on the public recognition of their justice, the social policy pursued by the state should be based on modern and adequate social indicators and criteria that are adequate to the new economic principles. The latter determine the threshold values of indicators of social activity and social security. Crossing these borders is unacceptable, as it is fraught with negative social consequences that make further progress in the economic reform of society impossible.

Optimal long-term contracts with disability insurance under limited commitment

We study an optimal long-term labor contract that provides disability insurance benefits under two frictions: the agent cannot commit to a long-term contract and the disability shock is private information. We predict that a job with a high risk of disability should provide a higher level of salary but with a lower growth rate over time. We find that the optimal contract can be implemented under a three-account trading system in which mandatory savings can be imposed to discourage a worker from falsely claiming disability. We also investigate how the nature of disability shock has an impact on the optimal contract: a larger borrowing limit should be given to a worker with a high severity of the disability shock or a low arrival intensity. Finally, our quantitative analysis shows that the cost caused by current long-term disability insurance practice can be substantial.

International experience in financing self-employed pensions

The rapid development of modern self-employment, the massive transition from employment to self-employment and vice versa is a challenge for traditional pension systems. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) responded by adopting compulsory state pension schemes for the self-employed shared with employees. Russia following global trends with a small-time lag, unlike others, provides an unconditional guarantee of social pensions. It is all the more important to study the advanced international experience in attracting the self-employed to pension insurance. This is the aim of the study. Research tasks are as follows: to identify different approaches to organizing pension insurance for the self-employed across OECD countries, to examine the mechanisms and factors arising, and to evaluate their performance. The research method is cluster analysis of the generated self-employed pensions parametric indicators database according to OECD data (2019–2021) (18 indicators as part of clustering, architecture, finance, performance factors) for 28 countries. The study identifies 3 clusters (approaches) to the organization of pension provision for the self-employed: 1 — employee-like mandatory contributions to state pension schemes; 2 — mandatory contributions with advantages; 3 — voluntary pension contributions with advantages. In general, none of the approaches can be called “the best”. The effectiveness of pension decreases with any form of low-income self-employed inclusion in income-based pension schemes, as well as dependent self-employment. The author concludes that for Russia alternative options for self-employed pensions are quasi-mandatory pension insurance, self-employed employee-like participation in voluntary funded pension schemes only, state co-financing, practical training in financial literacy without going into the depth of financial knowledge. Discussion for further research is a detailed study of the application of the results into self-employed pension insurance practice in Russia.

OPTIMIZATION AND PROSPECTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSURANCE IN THE TOURISM BUSINESS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE PANDEMIC

The purpose is the current state of tourism in Ukraine and the need to find alternative positive methods and tools to prevent the bankruptcy of the subjects of tourist activity. On the basis of a study of the peculiarities and risks of the subjects of tourist activity, which have increased in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, recommendations for implementation in the practice of insurance as a method of preventing bankruptcy have been developed. Comprehensive insurance protection of business entities in the tourism industry should be carried out by combining insurance in such areas as: insurance against interruption of tourist activity (compensation for losses from business interruption for reasons beyond the control of the tourist operator, including those associated with COVID-19 and restrictive measures on tourism), civil and professional liability insurance of tour operators, travel agents, property and personnel insurance, as well as cyber insurance hiding. Methodology. The issue of insurance provision of the tourism industry in a pandemic requires a comprehensive and systematic approach. Modern realities require it to raise social standards of protection of the population in general and tourists in particular. Achieving risk minimization in tourism is possible only with the establishment of active cooperation between the state authorities, travel companies and insurance companies. Results. Insurance in tourism can be considered as a system of financial and economic relations between insurance companies, subjects of tourist activity and tourists on the satisfaction of the interests and needs of each of them. In the tourism business, the risk of adverse events and their negative consequences is particularly significant. Sometimes it is difficult to predict the presence of adverse factors or events for the well-being of tourists. Additional difficulties are associated with the participation and interaction of a large number of independent business partners (tour operators, consular services, hotels, transport companies, etc.) Thus, the probability of occurrence of insurance claims has substantial grounds. Value/originality. Analyzed the current state, threats and prospects of the situation in the insurance market in Ukraine. Various factors and objective circumstances influence the development of global and, in turn, national markets of insurance services. The priority of development of national and world economy in recent years is globalization of financial institutions. The substantial basis of integration and globalization processes is the movement of capital. The insurance market, as an integral part of the country's financial market, is primarily influenced by globalization processes. This market reacts almost instantly to the dynamic processes in the world economic environment and reflects the main trends reflecting the formation of the modern insurance space. The pandemic crisis differs from the previous ones in that the freedom of movement was considerably restricted. The aim of the study is to identify the most necessary adaptive and transformational changes in Ukraine, taking into account the factors caused by the pandemic. Today the domestic insurance market is experiencing many negative challenges. The question of what consequences are inevitable after the end of the quarantine and how they will affect the participants of the insurance market remains less relevant. The external and internal factors affecting the functioning of the insurance market of Ukraine have been considered. It is established that due to objectively direct consequences the number of insurance companies will decrease. It is established that in Ukraine insurance companies offer health insurance programs that provide financial support in case of COVID-19 diseases, as well as improve already existing insurance programs. Legislative changes that have occurred in Ukraine in the sphere of insurance in connection with the pandemic coronavirus are analyzed. It is established that the state implements measures aimed at protection and support of the population in the event of a pandemic. Existing and potential threats have been determined, the opportunities that will allow insurance companies to maintain and strengthen their positions in the insurance market have been identified.

Climate Risks, Farmers Perception and Adaptation Strategies to Climate Variability in Afghanistan

This study examined the farmers’ perception, adaptation measures and coping strategies to mitigate climate extremes in Afghanistan using parametric and non-parametric methods. We selected the central agro-climatic zone to conduct farm household’s survey since it has significant climate variability in terms of maximum, minimum temperature and rainfall. Results show that majority of the farmers (>80%) perceived a “high to a very high” degree of climate induced impact on loss of employment, labor scarcity, pest and disease outbreak and decline in groundwater level. The important climate adaptation and coping strategies viz., changing cropping patterns, drilling new bore wells and farm diversification were extensively practiced by the farmers. In the policy side, establishing automatic weather stations, agro advisory services, weather-based crop insurance and climate-smart agricultural practices are the potential policy options to protect farm households from climate extremes.

THE ROLE OF CLIMATE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF GEORGIA'S TOURISM SECTOR

Weather and climate information and forecasts of extreme climatic conditions provided by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services are becoming increasingly important for ecotourism. Climate change poses an increased risk to the functionality of ecotourism facilities. Thus, the government and the private sector should pay particular attention to the management and application of climate information, the inclusion of climate factors in ecotourism and in ecotourism development policies. This requires effective coordination between environmental and tourism organizations, especially between WMO and WTO. Further research in the field of tourism will be critical to ensure the effective implementation of tourism safety in the country.
 For the tourism business, weather and climate information and forecasting of extreme climate events developed by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services are gaining in importance, given that the programming of many tourism activities is highly climate dependent and ecotourism insurance practices are highly dependent on natural disasters.

We got you covered: Contextualizing industry insurance practices and the response to Covid-19.

In response to Covid-19, media industries have increasingly relied upon insurance to manage risks to health and productivity loss surrounding creative labor. Analysis of contemporary trade journals reveals how the pandemic prompted new urgency around the question of who could get coverage, both by health plans protecting individual workers and cast insurance policies protecting employers. While Covid-19 risks are global in nature, the lack of universal health care exacerbated precarity in US media industries especially, where these two insurance practices overlap: medical coverage depends on the ability to work, which can depend on whether employers can insure their investment in that creative labor. Thus, struggles over insurance must be contextualized within historical discourses that made insurability legible within professional media work cultures. Ultimately, this analysis reveals how corporate media cultures calculate loss and mortality, marking some, but not all, as worthy of status, investment, or protection.

Parametric estimation of latent default frequency in credit insurance

In credit insurance practice, insurers must address the lack of information that affects their knowledge of present and past underwritten risks. In this context, classical frequency estimators, although effectively employed in various financial and actuarial applications to measure absorbing events, are not suitable. Given that default frequency estimation is affected by the temporal distribution of the invoices issued by an insured seller during the credit insurance coverage period, this study proposes a behavioral model to describe the commercial relationships between insured sellers and their buyers. The model is parsimonious and easily calibrated based on historical data. A closed-form estimator for the number of default events is introduced by the model parameterization, allowing for a precise inference of the actual default frequency over a given period, which compensates for the bias caused by unobserved events. The proposed method is numerically tested against the simultaneous presence of multiple behavioral types, whose composition may change over time, but still enables a credit insurance company to accurately estimate claim and default probabilities.

Determinação dos fatores de risco em empresas de gado e pequenos ruminantes a partir da perspectiva do seguro de vida animal: um estudo de caso na Turquia

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to determine the risk factors in the production processes of cattle and small ruminant breeding enterprises, along with developing a scale that could be used during the insured breeding process in different regions of Turkey. In this study, we obtained information from 252 enterprises from different provinces (Afyonkarahisar, Aksaray, Ankara, Burdur, Karaman, and Konya) of Turkey. Reliability and validity analyses were conducted using the “Risk Assessment Form in Cattle and Small Ruminant Animal Production”. The Cronbach alpha (α) coefficient was used to analyze reliability, while the exploratory factor analysis was applied to analyze the validity. About 68.7% (173) of the enterprises included cattle breeding, while the remaining 31.3% (79) involved small ruminant breeding. To determine the risk factors, twenty-four questions were directed toward the livestock enterprises, and the following six factors were determined: Economic-Political Risks, Yield/Product Losses, Enterprise Technical Risks, Credit/Financing, Workforce, Enterprise Follow-up, and Registration. In the politico-economic risk scoring, the score of enterprises already having Animal life insurance (ALI) was observed to be higher than those who did not have it, with the difference being statistically significant (p<0.05). We interpreted that producers with higher politico-economic risk factor scores preferred insurance. Although the producers could determine the risk factors well, not all producers were necessarily aware of risk measures. Thus, it was necessary to improve the farmers’ perception of risks and support their efforts to manage and reduce these risks. Also, the importance of insurance practices within and out of the farm is predicted to increase gradually to develop more conscious, sustainable, and profitable breeding in agriculture and animal product markets, which are becoming more liberalized day by day.

Private Law Aspects of Suborbital Flights: Second- and Third-party Liability and Insurance

Two companies carried private citizens to the edge of space in July 2021. Although suborbital flights have so far taken place within one jurisdiction—they start and end in the same state, do not pass through foreign airspace, or meet both criteria—they will become international when transportation between two points in different states via outer space becomes a reality. Inter- national law is ambiguous about the regulation of suborbital flights; neither international air law nor international space law explicitly apply. It is also unclear which organization or institution should be mandated with the international regulation of suborbital flights. The legal uncertainties must be solved to ensure a safe environment and a healthy industry. The characterization of suborbital flights as either aviation or spaceflight has important consequences, such as whether it concerns aspects of public law (e.g., safety) or private law (e.g., second- and third- party liability and insurance). This Article focuses on the latter—the private law issues of second- and third-party liability insurance against such liability in the fields of both air and space law, illustrating the differences between the two and underlining the need for a solution. When taking place within one jurisdiction, suborbital flights operating within a state’s territory are properly subject to state regulation through national law, as this would purely be a national activity falling within a state’s sovereign jurisdiction. Thus, states could decide to consider this activity as either aviation or spaceflight and apply air or space law accordingly. This may, however, lead to fragmentation and legal uncertainty. When flights become international by crossing borders on Earth, inter- national agreement about what law should govern suborbital flights becomes critical and should be developed in close cooperation between the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). A new sui generis regime will likely borrow from both air and space law and insurance practices. Until such a regime under international law is adopted, national law will govern these issues. The only available model is U.S. law, which seems suitable for the short- to medium-term until an international regime emerges and the industry matures. This Article will analyze current regimes and formulate recommendations for the way forward. Pursuant to that analysis, this Article concludes that a new international agreement on the operation of suborbital flights is required. For the time being, national law, harmonized to the maximum extent, should pro- vide a solution. The Article further aims to identify relevant points for the establishment of national legislation and, in the longer term, an international agreement. Whether or not this will take the form of a legally binding instrument remains to be seen, although the latter seems more realistic in the current geopolitical context.

Страхование как инструмент снижения финансовых рисков, связанных с поствакцинальными осложнениями

Population’s participation in vaccination for immunization against infectious diseases entails not only the risks of harm to health, but also financial risks. Unfavorable financial consequences of immunization can arise due to refusals from vaccinations and the development of postvaccinal complications. The problem of the discrepancy between the volume of state social support provided to citizens and the material consequences of vaccination actualizes the role of insurance in reducing the corresponding financial risks. The authors found that insurance companies on the Russian market offer financial coverage that is larger than that provided for by the state guarantees of social security for the vaccinated. However, the offers on the market have a number of serious limitations that impede the ability of interested parties to have the content of insurance coverage that would meet their expectations. At present, in insurance practice, formulations such as “serious complications”, “postvaccinal reactions and complications”, “complications, side effects, and other health disorders as a result of vaccination”, “complications arising after vaccination”, “conditions that have emerged since the moment of vaccination” are used in the formation of relevant programs, which significantly complicates the understanding of insurance conditions by the insurance services’ recipient and makes it difficult to compare the content of different programs in order to form optimal consumer preferences. Each insurance company fills the programs’ content with its own meaning so that quite often the amount of insurance coverage does not correlate with the list of side effects that occur after immunization accepted in medicine. Violation of industry standards in terms of the volume of disclosed information is allowed, which casts doubt on the quality of the insurance services provided. The authors propose to unify the approach to determining the basic categories for this type of insurance in order to remove the existing multivariance allowed by insurers in the development and further commercialization of insurance programs. Contribution of the authors: the authors contributed equally to this article. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

Nécessité d’un changement de paradigme pour étudier la nutrition et la fertilisation azotée des cultures / Need for a paradigm shift to study crop nutrition and nitrogen fertilization

Nitrogen fertilization of crops has long been based on a statistical analysis of the response of their yield to increasing doses of fertilizers. This prognosis has led to an insurance practice applying excessive doses of nitrogen so as not to penalize yields. A method for predicting the nitrogen balance of a crop has been developed to correct this trend but remains too highly imprecise. Diagnosis of the nitrogen nutrition status of a crop has recently emerged, reducing the uncertainty linked to the variability of local conditions. This diagnosis, integrated into decision support algorithms, makes it possible to apply fertilizers only “where” and “when” the nutritional status of the crops requires it. This precision must make it possible to achieve the targeted yields while minimizing the environmental impacts.

The Relationship Between Awareness of Health Insurance Fee Claims, Practice degrees and Education Requirements for Occupational Therapists

연구목적 : 본 연구는 작업치료사를 대상으로 건강보험수가 청구에 대한 인식과 실천 및 교육요구도를 알아봄으로써 치료사들의 보험수가 청구에 대한 관심을 높이고 나아가 중재에 대한 적절한 보상과 함께 작업치료 발전에 도움이 되고자 한다. 연구방법 : 광주 전남에 근무하는 작업치료사 256명을 대상으로 건강보험 수가에 대한 인식, 실천, 교육요구도에 관한 설문을 자가기입식으로 실시하여 최종 분석 자료로 256부를 이용하였다. 자료분석은 SPSS프로그램을 이용하여 기술통계, 빈도분석, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson 상관분석을 실시하였다. 연구결과 : 첫째, 건강보험수가에 대한 작업치료사들의 인식을 알아본 결과 ‘진료비 삭감률에 대해 잘 모르겠다’고 응답한 사람이 75.0%로 대체로 인식이 부족한 것으로 나타났고 실천은 ‘보통 수준’ 이었으며. 교육요구도는 교육이 ‘필요하다’라고 응답하였는데 작업치료 행위료에 대한 교육요구도가 가장 높았다. 둘째, 교육요구도와 실천의 상관관계를 살펴본 결과 유의한 양의 상관관계(p<.05)를 보였다. 결론 : 체계적이고 지속적인 건강보험수가 청구에 관한 교육과 노력은 수가청구에 대한 인식개선과 함께 요양급여비 삭감을 낮추는데 도움이 될 것으로 생각된다.

Research on Optimal Investment Reinsurance of Insurance Companies under Delayed Risk Model

The reinsurance and investment portfolio of insurance companies has always been a hot issue in insurance business. In insurance practice, it is inevitable for insurance companies to invest their own funds in order to expand their capital scale and enhance market competitiveness so as to obtain greater returns. At the same time, in order for insurance companies to disperse insurance risks and to avoid too concentrated claims or catastrophes caused by failure to perform compensation responsibilities, the purchase of reinsurance business has also become an important way. Stochastic control theory is widely used in reinsurance and investment issues. Based on the reinsurance system architecture, this paper establishes a reinsurance delay risk investment model, which reduces the amount of claims to be borne by buying proportional reinsurance to avoid bankruptcy caused by the excessive amount of claims. By using the delayed venture capital model to describe the earnings of insurance companies, the optimal investment and reinsurance strategy are solved under the optimization criterion of minimizing the probability of bankruptcy. By analyzing the model parameter data, the influence of each parameter on optimal investment strategy and optimal reinsurance strategy is discussed.

Hybrid Contract in Sharia Insurance Practices in Indonesia

The hybrid contract is a combination of several contracts. It exists due to the increasingly complex demands of human needs in contemporary times. However, its validity according to the Shari'a is still in doubt caused by a hadith of the Prophet that forbids the practice of two (or more) contracts if they are carried out in one transaction. In Indonesia, the hybrid contract is practiced in various transactions, one of which is the practice of sharia insurance. This causes the validity of the practice of sharia insurance to be questioned again. So the purpose of this research is to answer the problem: What is meant by hybrid contract and insurance? How is the hybrid contract mechanism in sharia insurance in Indonesia? How is the hybrid contract law in sharia insurance in Indonesia according to the 5 limits of the Al-Imrani contract?. This study uses a qualitative method with a deductive-inductive model. This library research includes analytical descriptive. The results of this study indicate that hybrid contracts in sharia insurance in Indonesia do not violate the hybrid contract restrictions that are prohibited by sharia according to Al-Imrani. So that the practice is legal by Sharia and the fatwa of DSN-MUI.

Insurance and Takaful Concepts: An Islamic Analysis and Offer in Life Assurance

This paper aims to provide a comparative analysis between the concept of insurance and the concept of takaful from an Islamic perspective. The method used in this paper is the study of libraries, in which the author seeks to find, summarize, analyze and ultimately deduce from various authoritative data sources. Insurance is a non-bank financial institution that offers protection against difficulties to the public. By paying dues or premiums that have been determined, the public has the right to make a claim that will be reimbursed by the insured party several funds that have also been determined. The insurer states to bear all risks that occur in the future. Therefore, all dues paid will be covered and managed by the company. However, it turns out that attitude is detrimental. Because the claim from the customer is not filed, then the customer's money is forfeited and entirely belongs to the company. In addition, the management of funds that are unclear and even almost unknown to customers makes this insurance practice illegal because it contains gharar and usury.

Nature-based solutions for flood risk reduction: A probabilistic modeling framework

<h2>Summary</h2> Flooding is the most frequent and damaging natural hazard globally. While nature-based solutions can reduce flood risk, they are not part of mainstream risk management. We develop a probabilistic risk analysis framework to quantify these benefits that (1) accounts for frequent small events and rarer large events, (2) can be applied to large basins and data-scarce contexts, and (3) quantifies economic benefits and reduction in people affected. Measuring benefits in terms of avoided losses enables the integration of nature-based solutions in standard cost-benefit analysis of protective infrastructure. Results for the Chindwin River basin in Myanmar highlight the potential consequences of deforestation on long-term flood risk. We find that loss reduction is driven by small but frequent storms, suggesting that current practice relying on large storms may underestimate the benefits of nature-based solutions. By providing average annual losses, the framework helps mainstream nature-based solutions in infrastructure planning or insurance practice.

To insure or not to insure—the role that government and insurance practice should play: a thematic comparison of the urban poor and the workers in the pensions and insurance industry

To insure or not to insure—the role that government and insurance practice should play: a thematic comparison of the urban poor and the workers in the pensions and insurance industry

Recent Challenges in Actuarial Science

For centuries, mathematicians and, later, statisticians, have found natural research and employment opportunities in the realm of insurance. By definition, insurance offers financial cover against unforeseen events that involve an important component of randomness, and consequently, probability theory and mathematical statistics enter insurance modeling in a fundamental way. In recent years, a data deluge, coupled with ever-advancing information technology and the birth of data science, has revolutionized or is about to revolutionize most areas of actuarial science as well as insurance practice. We discuss parts of this evolution and, in the case of non-life insurance, show how a combination of classical tools from statistics, such as generalized linear models and, e.g., neural networks contribute to better understanding and analysis of actuarial data. We further review areas of actuarial science where the cross fertilization between stochastics and insurance holds promise for both sides. Of course, the vastness of the field of insurance limits our choice of topics; we mainly focus on topics closer to our main areas of research.