This paper examines the effects of corporate governance mechanisms (measured by a set of board characteristics) on the profit efficiency of United Kingdom (UK) life insurance firms. A parametric ‘stochastic frontier' approach is used to compute profit efficiency scores and second-stage...

Using a unique insurance dataset for a sample of Chinese publicly listed companies for the period 1997 through 2003, this study tests the simultaneous linkages between debt capacity, cost of debt and corporate property insurance. Our results suggest that on the one hand, a higher cost of debt...

There are two main tax-related arguments regarding the use of reinsurance – the income volatility reduction and the income level enhancement arguments. The income volatility reduction argument contends that firms facing convex tax schedules have incentives to hedge in order to reduce the...

In the insurance industry, claims tend to constitute the major proportion of total annual outgoings across almost all product lines. This study develops a cost function of insurance claims and applies the model to 1988–93 data from the United Kingdom and New Zealand life insurance industries....

Executive Summary The Determinants of Credit Ratings in the United Kingdom Insurance Industry Academic researchers have devoted a considerable amount of attention to the activities of credit rating agencies over the past 20 years, focusing in particular on the agencies’ potential role in...