Purchase Insurance Policies Research Articles

Farmers’ Awareness and Approach to Agricultural Insurance as a Risk Mitigation Strategy

This study aims to explore the development of agriculture insurance from farmers’ perspective in a developing country such as Albania and to identify the reasons why farmers choose to be insured or not. Moreover, the paper aims to evaluate the willingness of farmers to choose agricultural insurance as the best method to reduce agricultural risks based on the offer of the insurance market in the agricultural sector. For this purpose, the study employs primary data gathered from 452 questionnaires distributed in four regions with the highest agriculture contribution and the highest number of farmers in Albania (Tirana, Dibër, Korçë and Fier). The results indicate that Albanian farmers, despite being aware of the various risks involved in agricultural production, opt not to purchase insurance policies and instead choose to self-insure. Analysis shows that this choice is influenced by factors such as lack of information, price, and trust in insurance providers. Moreover, the study points out that farmers are willing to pay a low premium that does not match the price set by insurance companies for this service.

Navigating challenges in the insurance industry: A comparative MCDM analysis of developed and developing countries

Insurance Policy adoption is the key to a better and safer living whether it comes to the individual or a business setup. Over the years this sector has been exposed to various challenges, especially when it comes to stability and gaining the trust of the people and organizations. The bigger struggle is the business hurdles this sector faces in a developing country and to do so, the current study was conducted to assess the attitude of Pakistani citizens toward insurance programs. Specifically, the study examines the reluctance of Pakistanis to purchase insurance policies as a means of protecting their savings. Due to the lesser available knowledge among the citizens, the reluctance towards the insurance policies is quite at a larger scale. To analyze this fact, MCDM techniques, i.e., TOPSIS and Decision Theory, have been implied to provide a means of assessing the efficiency of insurance companies and the reasons for their lagging in convincing the public to start changing their investment behavior. A comprehensive study of all Pakistani insurance companies has been conducted here. The data was obtained from the published financial statements of insurance companies, and the analysis of primary data was collected from two categories of people; employees and customers. The data enabled the current research to make a comparison between insurance in Pakistan and abroad to see how the two situations vary. According to the results, the companies abroad are more advanced in terms of means and facilities they provide in insurance, while in contrast, the lack of awareness and lesser trust in the companies leads to fewer insurance policies adoption in Pakistan.

Innovative activity of insurance organizations: Course of development

Aim. The presented study aims to develop a model for the innovative development of insurance in Russia based on an in-depth analysis of scientific papers, a survey of insurers, and the market situation.Tasks. The authors examine innovative development models in the insurance sector; identify problems affecting the introduction of innovations in the insurance business; analyze channels through which insurers purchase insurance products; test the hypothesis about insurers giving preference to digital channels when choosing insurance depending on age and gender; identify the most popular types of insurance products among insurants; highlight promising innovative approaches in Russian insurance.Methods. This study uses general and private scientific methods, a formal logical approach, and survey of insurers.Results. A model for the innovative development of insurance in Russia is developed based on an in-depth analysis of scientific papers, a survey of insurers, and the market situation. Testing of the hypothesis about the dependence of the choice of insurance channels on age (generation) for different types of insurance indicates that such a dependence exists only for car insurance. The hypothesis about the joint influence of gender and generation on the choice of channels for purchasing insurance policies is not confirmed. According to the survey, the most popular types of policies include car insurance and travel insurance. Conventional insurance remains more popular among respondents than digital insurance.Conclusions. A problem of interaction and communication between the insurer and the insurant is revealed. Digital insurance is not sufficiently developed among Russian insurers. The developed client-oriented model will make it possible to establish long-term relationships between companies and customers. Convenient, functional digital tools will create the prerequisites for the sustainable growth of companies, allowing them to gain important competitive advantages in the market.

A Neural Network-Based Approach in Predicting Consumers' Intentions of Purchasing Insurance Policies

Insurance is a crucial mechanism used to lighten the financial burden as it provides protection against financial losses resulting from unexpected events. Insurers adopt various approaches, such as machine learning, to attract the uninsured. By using machine learning, a company is able to tap into the wealth of information of its potential customers. The main objective of this study is to apply artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict the propensity of consumers to purchase an insurance policy by using the dataset from the Computational Intelligence and Learning (CoIL) Challenge 2000. In addition, this study also aims to identify factors that affect the propensity of customers to purchase insurance policies via feature selection. The dataset is pre-processed with feature construction and three feature selection methods, which are the neighbourhood component analysis (NCA), sequential forward selection (SFS) and sequential backward selection (SBS). Sampling techniques are carried out to address the issue of imbalanced class distributions. The results obtained are found to be comparable with the top few entries of the CoIL Challenge 2000, which shows the efficiency of the proposed model in predicting consumers’ intention of purchasing insurance policies.

La (des)contextualización del conocimiento geográfico en el manejo del riesgo de incendios forestales en Chile como un desafío para la gobernanza

The Chilean economy and society are confronted with increasing risks from forest fires. Individual rather than collective risk management solutions predominate. Large forest companies reduce the probability that forest fires affect their tree plantations with management routines of hierarchical order. Additionally, they purchase insurance policies to protect themselves from disastrous economic losses. They diversify and externalize their risk. These mechanisms are not available to other stakeholders in Chilean forest regions who experience forest fires mainly as negative external effects. The paper assesses the strengths and weaknesses of interacting hierarchical and market governance forms of risk management and calls for a deeper geographical approach of risk governance. It reveals that detailed geographical knowledge on forest fire risks is explicitly decontextualized and even ignored in current risk management practices. Knowledge of the causes and effects of forest fire risks, that is important for a broader approach of risk governance, is lost in the process.

Impact of Banc Assurance on Customers in Purchasing Insurance Policies with Special Reference to Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh

Banking industry has grown quickly all over the world, at the same time insurance industry has also grown rapidly in the same cut throat economic environment. With the entry into non core products or services like insurance and securities markets, these days banks have increased their businesses. The integration of financial markets, emergence of new technologies and expansion of non-banking activities has a great impact on baking operations. Thus it results in opening doors for the business of non core products like insurance and securities (banc assurance) by banks. The only intention behind this diversification of business by the banks is to provide ample investment alternatives to the common people who do not have access to various financial products and securities so that they can maximize the returns on their investment. The increasing popularity of banc assurance has widened the scope of research in this area. In this study an attempt is made to know the impact of banc assurance on customers while they made decisions to purchase the insurance policies.

Gender perspective on life insurance demand in Ghana

Purpose Against the background that Ghanaians seldom purchase insurance policies, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of life insurance uptake among male and female household heads in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach The study employs data on 775 male and 233 female household heads from the sixth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey. Adjusted Wald test statistics and logistic regressions are employed for the empirical estimations. Findings Results from the adjusted Wald test show that the sampled male household heads significantly differ from their female counterparts in terms of the selected socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Though ill health status, higher wealth, being self-employed or in wage or salaried employment and residing in either of the three northern regions (upper east, upper west and northern regions) in Ghana broadly affect the demand for life insurance among both male and female heads, other factors are peculiar to either parties. Particularly, whereas female heads who are married and those with more dependants have a higher propensity of purchasing life insurance policies, their male counterparts with higher education are more likely to buy life insurance policies. Research limitations/implications The paper adds to the paucity of cross-sectional studies on life insurance demand in Africa. Practical implications Based on the explored determinants, insurers could better regulate the purchase of their products by taking into consideration the gender differences to maximize their sales and enhance economic growth and development. Originality/value This paper explores the gender dynamics in the determinants of life insurance demand in a developing country, Ghana. Besides, findings from related literature are reported to be mixed. Though the current paper is not wholly nationally representative, it utilizes data from across all the ten administrative regions of Ghana. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no prior study has been conducted in this manner.

Ekspozycja gospodarstw rolnych na ryzyko pogodowe a skłonność rolników do uczestnictwa w systemie ubezpieczeń rolnych

The purpose of the article was an assessment of the tendency on the part of farmers to participate in the system of agricultural insurances in relation to the degree of the farms’ exposition to specified weather risk. On the first stage of the research, the perception of risk by farmers from the Middle Pomeranian region was identified. On the second stage, connections between the level of farms’ exposition to specified weather risk and possession of an insurance policy was indicated and the strength of this connection was determined. Empirical data was used in the study that was obtained in the course of questionnaire surveys carried out on a group of farmers from the region of the Middle Pomerania. In order to examine the strength of connections between the level of exposition of a farm to specified weather risk and the farmers’ tendency to purchase insurance policies, the Cramer’s statistic relationship intensity measure based on chi-squarestatistics was used. Statistically significant influence of risks was proved, i.e. hailstones, drought, fire, excessive atmospheric precipitations, torrential rains, spring slight frosts and negative effects of wintering on decisions taken by farmers related to the purchase of insurance policies.

Patent Litigation Insurance

AbstractEmpirical studies have found that high litigation costs often discourage small firms from investing in R&D, as they fear their patent will be infringed and they will not be able to afford litigation. As a solution, firms have been encouraged to purchase insurance policies that, by covering legal costs in the event of a trial, serve as a commitment to litigate so that settlement terms are more favorable to the insured, and potential infringement is less likely to occur. However, very few firms are purchasing insurance and the market remains poorly developed throughout the world. I show that firms might be discouraged from buying insurance because of information asymmetries, not only with insurance companies but also with their competitors. I study the situation of a patent holder, who perfectly knows the validity and enforceability (“strength”) of her patent, which has been infringed by a competitor with less information on the patent. The patent holder can purchase insurance to have a credible threat to litigate and increase the infringer's settlement offer. But the decision to buy insurance conveys information about the patent strength to the infringer. As a result the patent holder may prefer not to be insured rather than transmitting this information. This signaling effect can yield different equilibriums, in particular, a pooling equilibrium “no insurance” where no patent holder purchases insurance. I study if this situation might be improved by imposing mandatory insurance or by giving the insurer a share of litigation proceeds.

Commercial Insurance of Financial Disclosure: Auditors’ Independence, and Investors’ Protection

In this paper the authors propose, for preliminary consideration and discussion, a system of commercial insurance of financial disclosures (CIFD), under which users of financial information (owners and potential owners of business enterprises) and providers of financial information (managers of business enterprises) would be able to purchase insurance policies from private insurers (commercial insurance companies). These insurance policies would be designed to protect users of financial statements from specific, well-defined losses directly attributable to their use of financial disclosures that failed to conform to contractually defined standards. To reduce their own risks insurance companies will likely purchase from assurance experts (certified public accountants, financial analysts, and management consultants) services assuring adherence to standards. The paper discusses the dynamics of the decisions and negotiations within and among groups of investors, managers, insurers, assurors, and government regulators. The advantages of CIFD over current US regulation of financial disclosure are analyzed. Those advantages, which include increases in the independence of external auditors, improvements in the quality of their audits, and better protection for investors, are assessed. It is argued that CIFD may be capable of evolving into a very flexible system that would accommodate alternative regulatory structures.

Shunned: Discrimination Against People Mental Illness

Article AbstractBecause this piece does not have an abstract, we have provided for your benefit the first 3 sentences of the full text.Graham Thornicroft, the Head of the Health Service Research Department of the Institute of Psychiatry in London, U.K., has given us probably the most complete recent synopsis of the ways in which persons with mental illnesses are discriminated against, particularly in developed countries, such as England and the United States. The book draws from extensive research studies and professional experience, and effectively utilizes quotes from users of mental health services. Topics covered include the reactions of family members, multiple housing problems, and issues with friendships and other social relationships, including marriage, divorce, and having/raising children. Practical issues such as problems obtaining drivers†licenses, purchasing insurance policies, and obtaining voting rights are also addressed.†‹

Vertragswettbewerb im Gesundheitswesen / Double-sided Competition for the German Health Care Market

Summary Germany spends more than 11% of GDP on health care - after the US and Switzerland the third most expensive system in the world. At the same time, healthy life expectancy is just about average among the OECD countries. This indicates that the German health care system suffers from inefficiency. Other OECD countries, notably Sweden, achieve much higher healthy life expectancies at considerably lower costs. This paper addresses how the efficiency of the German health care system should be improved upon. Our central argument departs from the well-known observation that information about efficient health care procedures and technologies is asymmetric: insurances know better than consumers which doctors and hospital deliver high quality at lower prices. Hence, the role of health insurances as information mediators between consumers and providers is crucial. Thus, on the one hand, health insurances should gain more market power in the provider market, in which insurance companies pay the services of doctors and hospitals, in order to control costs. One the other hand, however, this increased market power in the provider market needs to be counter-balanced by more competition in the insurance market, in which consumers purchase insurance policies. This requires free choice of consumers among insurance contracts with different prices.

Asset Prices and Insurance Loadings

We analyze an equilibrium model in which agents exposed to idiosyncratic risk can purchase insurance policies in addition to financial assets. The price of an insurance contract depends nonlinearly on the claims and explicitly contains safety loadings, proportional to variance. We consider random loading factors that vary with business cycles. To extract economic information from the equilibrium, we expand the stochastic discount factor (SDF) in the volatility of consumption growth, a natural small parameter. We obtain the true dependence of the SDF on idiosyncratic risk and insurance loadings. Our expression for the stochastic discount factor displays a threshold loading such that the equilibrium SDF is monotone increasing in the cross-sectional variance of idiosyncratic risk for loadings above the threshold. The SDF is monotone decreasing for loadings below the threshold. One consequence, for loadings below the threshold, is that countercyclical idiosyncratic risk has the opposite influence on the SDF to that of the classic Constantinides and Duffie (1996) tradeless equilibrium.

Decision Rules for Increasing the Rate of Successfully Classified Respondents

Discriminant analysis is one of the more commonly used methodsfor classifying individuals. In this article, the authors discuss strategies for increasing the percentage of correctly classified subjects (i.e., the hit rate). Through their study of 303,000 credit card customers of a corporation, who were sent offers to purchase insurance policies through the mail, the authorsfound that by varying the decision rulesfor classification one could more accurately predict response rates and establish cutoff points for acceptance that best meet the researcher's needs. The results of this study demonstrate that one can increase the hit rate from one of less than .2% (the random response rate) to one of more than .6% by appealing only to those prospective respondents ranked in the top 10o according to classification scores. Such a result is a large improvement over the typical output available through some of the more commonly used software packages for classification of individuals.