We analyze life insurance policy surrender activity to determine whether surrender is a function of certain macroeconomic variables and, therefore, highly correlated across policies. Results support the Emergency Fund Hypothesis and the Interest Rate Hypothesis. In addition, we provide evidence...

The effect of federal insurance regulation has been a perennial topic of debate. Proponents have argued that federal regulation would result in a variety of benefits, including greater product innovation, increased speed-to-market, reduction of regulatory costs, and additional cost efficiencies....

This study analyzes the impact of diversification and focus strategies on firms targeted for acquisitions. Based on a sample of acquisitions of property-liability insurers from 1993 to 1997, the study centers on two major questions: (1) whether the diversification or focus decision of the...

The issue of subsidence is important in many parts of the country. Whether caused by mines collapsing, oil pumping, or weather, property owners are faced with how to finance these losses, which are not typically covered in standard property policies. Several states have devised funding...

PCS Catastrophe Insurance Options were released in 1995 as a means of providing property and casualty insurers with a method of hedging catastrophe exposures. The options are based on the Property Claims Services Office (PCS) index of catastrophe losses. Due to the fact that the underlying index...

Hurricane models are a significant tool used in estimating loss costs in catastrophe-prone areas. While the major hurricane loss cost models consider a consistent set of factors, there are variations in how the factors are treated in the models. This can lead to considerable variation in the...