Sharing responsibility: what they didn't teach you in kindergarten

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the problem of allocating responsibility for risk through a simple classroom vignette that illustrates some of the difficulties encountered in more complex real‐world scenarios. Design/methodology/approach – After considering a number of ad hoc allocation methods, this study focuses on the Shapley and Aumann‐Shapley values from cooperative game theory. Findings – Shows that the Aumann‐Shapley value provides a useful tool for allocating risk in a real‐world insurance context, and therefore may be used to distribute capital (surplus) and premium loadings. Originality/value – The paper offers insights into both the challenges of the risk‐allocation problem and its proposed solutions.