This paper looks at the dynamic properties of insurance contracts when insurers have better technology at preventing catastrophic losses than the insured. The prevention technology is owned by the insurers and is permanent. If long-term contracts are not possible, the insured is faced with a...

This paper examines the impact of capital structure on the optimality of contingent financial contracts. The role of financial relationships is not only to provide funds but also to offer insurance to a risk adverse entrepreneur through contingent financial transfers. Since such financial...

This paper studies the effect of combining different insurance schemes on the efficiency of consumption smoothing in an environment without commitment. A savings account is introduced into the self-enforcing risk-sharing model of Thomas and Worrall (1988). The risk averse agent's savings play...

This paper studies the impact of banks' liability for environmental damages caused by their borrowers. Laws or court decisions that declare banks liable for environmental damages have two objectives: (1) finding someone to pay for the damages and (2) exerting a pressure on a firm's stakeholders...

A lingering topic in corporate governance is whether corporate directors should be protected against shareholder lawsuits and whether such protection reduces the incentives of directors to monitor appropriately the behaviour of corporate officers. To achieve this goal, we examine whether...

The Lloyd's 2007 Survey of Underwriters states that "for the third year running, managing the cycle emerged as the most important challenge for the industry, by some margin"". The contention is of course that underwriting cycles exist in property and casualty insurance and are economically...

This paper develops and tests hypotheses regarding the relationship between D&O insurance purchase and firm size, governance characteristics, and business risk, using a unique panel dataset on Canadian firms for years 1996-2005. The rich data permit examination of the determinants of insurance...

Using a unique proprietary dataset of primary insurers and reinsurers, we analyze the structure of the reinsurance market. The dataset, which spans six years, contains the quotes for different reinsurance layers, for different clients, for different treaties, and for different lines of business....

This paper proposes a unified framework for measuring and managing longevity risk. Specifically, we develop a flexible framework for valuing survivor derivatives like forwards, swaps, as well as options both of European and American style. Our framework is essentially independent of the assumed...

The purpose of this paper is to offer a glimpse into the potential industrial organization of the property casualty insurance (P&C) market if banks continue to penetrate it at current rates. To do so, we study an insurance market where banks are already integral in distribution: Title insurance....