Handbook of Insurance

In the 1970's, the research agenda in insurance was dominated by optimal insurance coverage, security design, and equilibrium under conditions of imperfect information. The 1980's saw a growth of theoretical developments including non-expected utility, price volatility, retention capacity, the pricing and design of insurance contracts in the presence of multiple risks, and the liability insurance crisis. The empirical study of information problems, financial derivatives, and large losses due to catastrophic events dominated the research agenda in the 1990's.
The Handbook of Insurance provides a single reference source on insurance for professors, researchers, graduate students, regulators, consultants, and practitioners, that reviews the research developments in insurance and its related fields that have occurred over the last thirty years. The book starts with the history and foundations of insurance theory and moves on to review asymmetric information, risk management and insurance pricing, and the industrial organization of insurance markets. The book ends with life insurance, pensions, and economic security.
Each chapter has been written by a leading authority in insurance, all contributions have been peer reviewed, and each chapter can be read independently of the others.

What a pleasure it is to discover the second edition of the Handbook of Insurance, twelve years after the first! Many key concepts at the core of risk, uncertainty and insurance economics have been further refined, reassessed, and reanalyzed. New issues have emerged, including systemic risk, longevity risk, long-term care, the corporate governance of insurance companies, capital allocation within insurance companies and alternative risk transfer devices. I have a simple wish: that this handbook be diffused to as wide an audience as possible, both in academic and professional spheres.

Denis Kessler
Chairman and CEO of SCOR

This new edition of the Handbook of Insurance reviews the last forty years of research developments in insurance and its related fields. A single reference source for professors, researchers, graduate students, regulators, consultants, and practitioners, the book starts with the history and foundations of risk and insurance theory, followed by a review of prevention and precaution, asymmetric information, risk management, insurance pricing, new financial innovations, reinsurance, corporate governance, capital allocation, securitization, systemic risk, insurance regulation, the industrial organization of insurance markets, and other insurance market applications. It ends with health insurance, longevity risk, long-term care insurance, life insurance financial products, and social insurance.

This second version of the Handbook contains 15 new chapters. Each of the 37 chapters has been written by leading authorities in risk and insurance research, all contributions have been peer reviewed, and each chapter can be read independently of the others.