This book explores the profound transformation that has taken place in European insurance legislation since January 2016. Expert contributions discuss the changes that have taken place in the supervision of insurance and reinsurance undertakings through an economic risk-based approach. They outline the European insurance market before going on to show how Solvency II and Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) are expected to generate significant benefits and have a positive impact on all parties involved in the insurance industry, the supervisory authorities and the insured. They also show how Solvency II is likely to benefit the economy as a whole, promoting more efficient allocation of capital and risk in a financial stability framework. This volume will be of interest to academics and researchers in the field of insurance regulation.

This series explores the central and unique role of organizational ethics in creating and sustaining a flourishing, pluralistic, free enterprise economy. It examines how profit seeking and not-for-profit organizations can be conceived and designed to satisfy legitimate human needs in an ethical and meaningful way. The authors submit rigorous research studies from a wide variety of academic perspectives including: business management, philosophy, sociology, psychology, religion, accounting, finance, and marketing. It focuses on ethical issues in the insurance industry and includes a variety of disciplines with authors from over 30 countries. The papers were selected from the best presentations at the Twelfth Annual International Conference Promoting Business Ethics, held Oct. 2005 in Manhattan.

Two different applications have been considered, automobile claims from Massachusetts and health expenses from the Netherlands. We have fit 11 different distributions to these data. The distributions are conveniently nested within a single four parameter distribution, the generalized beta of the second type. This relationship facilitates analysis and comparisons. In both cases the GB2 provided the best fit and the Burr 3 is the best three parameter model. In the case of automobile claims, the flexibility of the GB2 provides a statistically siE;nificant improvement in fit over all other models. In the case of Dutch health expenses the improvement of the GB2 relative to several alternatives was not statistically significant. * The author appreciates the research assistance of Mark Bean, Young Yong Kim and Steve White. The data used were provided by Richard Derrig of The Massachusetts Automobile Rating and Accident Prevention Bureau and by Bob Van der Laan and The Silver Cross Foundation for the medical insurance claim data. 2~ REFERENCES Arnold, B. C. 1983. Pareto Distributions. Bartonsville: International Cooperative Publishing House. Cummins, J. D. and L. R. Freifelder. 1978. A comparative analysis of alternative maximum probable yearly aggregate loss estimators. Journal of Risk and Insurance 45:27-52. *Cummins, J. D., G. Dionne, and L. Maistre. 1987. Application of the GB2 family of distributions in collective risk theory. University of Pennsylvania: Mimeographed manuscript. Hogg, R. V. and S. A. Klugman. 1983. On the estimation of long tailed skewed distributions with actuarial applications.

The Geneva Association and Risk Economics The Geneva Association The Geneva Association (International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics) commenced its activities in June 1973, on the initiative of twenty-two members in eight European countries. It now has fifty-four members in sixteen countries in Europe and in the United States. The members of the association are insurance companies which provide financial support for its activities. The aims and strategy of the Geneva Association were clearly defined in 1971 by the founding committee. They were set forth in the first report to the Assembly of Members in 1974: "To make an original contribution to the progress of insurance by objective studies on the interdependence between economics and insurance." In pursuit of this objective, the Association strives to place insurance problems in the context of the modern economy and to overcome the antagonism between different groups and institutions by showing that they all have a common interest in tackling the problem of risk in a changing world. In consequence, the studies made by the Association had to move away from the subjects familiar to insurance professionals and explore related fields, dealing with opinions and behavior falling outside the profession's vii FOREWORD viii traditional framework of analysis. It is in this direction that the Association's preoccupations have been directed from the beginning, towards areas in which insurance activities come into contact with those of other economic sectors such as government, banking, manufacturing, and households.

Insurance is an important - if still poorly understood - mechanism for dealing with a broad variety of risks associated with modern life. This book conducts an in-depth examination of one of the largest and longest-established private insurance industries in Europe: British life insurance. In doing so, it draws on over 40 oral history interviews to trace how the sector is changed since the 1970s, a period characterised by rampant financialisation and neoliberalisation. Combining insights from science and technology studies and economic sociology, this is an unprecedented study of the evolution of insurance practices and an invaluable contribution to our understanding of financial capitalism.

Stochastic Processes for Insurance and Finance offers a thorough yet accessible reference for researchers and practitioners of insurance mathematics. Building on recent and rapid developments in applied probability the authors describe in general terms models based on Markov processes, martingales and various types of point processes. Discussing frequently asked insurance questions, the authors present a coherent overview of the subject and specifically address:

• the principal concepts of insurance and finance
• practical examples with real life data
• numerical and algorithmic procedures essential for modern insurance practices

Most insurers around the world have introduced some form of merit-rating in automobile third party liability insurance. Such systems, penalizing at-fault accidents by premium surcharges and rewarding claim-free years by discounts, are called bonus-malus systems (BMS) in Europe and Asia. With the current deregulation trends that concern most insurance markets around the world, many companies will need to develop their own BMS. The main objective of the book is to provide them models to design BMS that meet their objectives. Part I of the book contains an overall presentation of the pros and cons of merit-rating, a case study and a review of the different probability distributions that can be used to model the number of claims in an automobile portfolio. In Part II, 30 systems from 22 different countries, are evaluated and ranked according to their toughness' towards policyholders. Four tools are created to evaluate that toughness and provide a tentative classification of all systems. Then, factor analysis is used to aggregate and summarize the data, and provide a final ranking of all systems. Part III is an up-to-date review of all the probability models that have been proposed for the design of an optimal BMS. The application of these models would enable the reader to devise the system that is ideally suited to the behavior of the policyholders of his own insurance company. Finally, Part IV analyses an alternative to BMS; the introduction of a policy with a deductible.

This book explores theoretical and practical implications of reflecting the fair value of liabilities for insurance companies. In addition, the contributions discuss the disclosure of these values to the financial and regulatory communities and auditing firms which are actually calculating this illusive but important variable. It combines contributions by distinguished practitioners from the insurance, accounting and finance fields, with those of prominent academics. One of the central themes of the collection is that adequate disclosure of the true economic value of insurance company liabilities is both possible and desirable. Wherever possible, the insurance valuation process is wedded with modern financial theory. For example, the use of option pricing theory is applied to insurance companies, where the true value of the firm's liabilities is a critical variable. Methods such as cash flow, earned profit and indirect discount are explored.

From the reviews: "The highly esteemed 1990 first edition of this book now appears in a much expanded second edition. The difference between the first two English editions is entirely due to the addition of numerous exercises. The result is a truly excellent book, balancing ideally between theory and practice. ....As already hinted at above, this book provides the ideal bridge between the classical (deterministic) life insurance theory and the emerging dynamic models based on stochastic processes and the modern theory of finance. The structure of the bridge is very solid, though at the same time pleasant to walk along. I have no doubt that Gerber's book will become the standard text for many years to come. Metrika, 44, 1996, 2

Using institutional theory to explain innovation and merging academic and critical analysis with practical recommendations, this book provides a full and rich account of how new products are brought to market; considering both the successes and failures in equal measure.

The book takes the meeting point of two seemingly incongruous schools of theoretical thought to enlighten the debate surrounding product innovation. In doing so it:

• illustrates how institutional forces come to shape the interest, priorities and behaviour of organizational members in the development and implementation process of incremental product innovation
• investigates the failed innovative attempts of established organizations
• demonstrates the importance of organizational and intra-organizational forces for innovative success.

The insight it offers into the organization of product innovation processes in the financial services sector and the guidelines it sets up for their improvement makes Innovation and Institutions essential reading for those working in or studying the banking, finance and insurance sector who have an interest in innovation studies.

Tobacco is reported to be the second major cause of death in the world and there is ever-increasing interest in the costs of smoking, especially in the light of evidence of the health effects of second-hand smoke. This book brings together the findings of economists on the effectiveness of price and non-price policy initiatives to combat smoking and draws conclusions regarding the efficacy of the various policy measures. The authors evaluate the relative effectiveness of price-based smoking control policies (i.e. tax) in relation to non-price strategies (including advertising restrictions, sales restrictions, territorial restrictions and health warnings). They review evidence not only from the US but also from around the world, drawing important conclusions for developing countries where smoking is on the rise. The book will be essential reading for policy makers, health practitioners and researchers in health economics.

The book analyzes the role of technology in the redefinition of the competitiveness of insurance markets. With a focus on the competitive challenges of InsurTech startup to the incumbent insurers, the book will discuss the strategic role of technology both in the development and in the distribution of insurance services and explore the customer relationship evolution following the digitalization of services offered. The book presents original theoretical and empirical contributions addressing how digitalization impacts the insurance environment and regulation, and how InsurTech development represents a threat for traditional companies, from Big Data analysis to digital devices, from personal interactivity to home automation systems development. The project's key benefit is up-to-date analysis of the competitiveness of technology usage in the insurance field, with particular reference to the distributive variable and to the future trends of the customer relationship in the short and medium-long term. The book will be of particular interest to scholars and students of insurance and financial technology.

Major challenges for life insurance companies have been posed by an unprecedented wave of mergers and acquisitions in the insurance industry and the emergence of non-traditional competitors such as banks, mutual fund companies and investment advisory firms. This is the first book to analyze the determinants of firm performance in the life insurance industry by identifying the best practices' employed by leading insurers to succeed in this dynamic business environment. The book draws upon data from insurer financial statements as well as upon an extensive survey of life insurer management practices and strategic choices in distribution systems, information technology, mergers and acquisitions, human resources and financial strategies. Generic strategies such as cost leadership, customer focus, and product differentiation are analyzed as well as strategic practices specific to the insurance industry. Best practices are identified by measuring the economic efficiency of insurers and by comparing firms across the industry. Both cost and revenue efficiency are measured relative to best practice efficient frontiers consisting of the industry's dominant life insurance firms. Economies of scale and the effects of mergers and acquisitions on efficiency are also analyzed. Financial strategies are examined with specific reference to pricing policy, valuation of assets and liabilities, and the current state of firm-level risk management systems. The benchmarks established are the result of extensive fieldwork that identifies key financial risks and methodologies to both measure and manage them at the firm level. The results discussed in the book indicate that firm performance is significantly correlated with management practices and strategic choices. Thus, life insurers can improve profitability by adopting optimal combinations of strategies. The book contains important new material on the effects of strategic choices in product distribution systems, information technology, mergers and acquisitions, human resources, and financial risk management policies. In the area of efficiency, the methodology provides a new approach for identifying peer groups of insurers and measuring the performance of individual insurers relative to their peer group. On the topics of risk and pricing, new insights are offered relative to current methodologies and in regard to areas where improvement is clearly warranted. The book concludes with an analysis of the future opportunities and challenges in the life insurance industry facing managers, and the strategic options available to them to cope with these changes.

Insurance companies, as well as banks and thrift institutions, have traditionally reported assets and liabilities on the basis of their amortized cost, or book value. But following the turmoil in securities markets due to highly volatile interest rate fluctuations in the 1980s and the early 1990s, and problems caused by inadequate liquidity, in the mid-1990s the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a new ruling calling for financial intermediaries to report the fair, or market, value of most assets. Called FAS 115, this new standard is the first step in the eventual change to valuing all the assets and liabilities belonging to financial intermediaries under the fair value accounting method. Thus, these changes will pose tremendous future implications for three key business measures of a financial intermediary: Solvency: if the fair values of assets and liabilities are out-of-step, then healthy companies may report negative net worth and insolvent companies may appear to be in sound financial condition. Reported Earnings: if the fair values of assets and liabilities are out of step, then reported earnings will not accurately represent the financial operations of the company. Risk Management: FASB recently postponed the implementation of its new rules on accounting for the use of derivatives instruments. However, if the final set of rules for figuring the fair value of derivatives is not carefully crafted, it may be possible that companies prudently hedging their risks are subject to penalties in their financial reports, while companies taking greater risks appear to have less volatile financial performance. Compared to banks and other financial intermediaries, life insurance companies have the longest term and most complex liabilities, and hence the new FASB requirement poses the most severe challenges to the life insurance industry. The lessons learned from the debate among life insurance academics and professionals about how respond to the fair value reporting rule will be instructive to their counterparts in other sectors of the insurance industry, as well as those involved with other financial institutions. Of particular note are the two papers which comprise Part III. The first provides examples of the fair valuing of annuity contracts, while the second offers examples of the fair valuing of term insurance products. As the papers collected in The Fair Value of Insurance Business extend and update some of the issues treated in a previous Salomon Center conference volume, The Fair Value of Insurance Liabilities, this new volume may be viewed as a companion to the earlier book.

Until a few years ago I concentrated my attention on workers' compensa tion programs in the United States and Canada. Because the United States has 52 programs and Canada has eight, I was exposed to a diversity of approaches that caused me to believe that few other approaches existed. Since 1984 I have become more aware of what the rest of the world has been doing and discovered that my knowledge needed to be broadened significantly. The trigger action was a 1984 faculty research exchange agreement between Keio University in Tokyo and the University of Minnesota that made it possible for me to spend much of my time studying Japan's workers' compensation program and comparing it with the United States approaches. Japan's program had several features that I had not encountered in the United States or Canada. After this experience I attached considerably more value to and spent more time studying the Social Security Administration's biennial reports on Social Security Pro grams Throughout The World, which include workers' compensation programs. I also presented papers at two meetings of the International Insurance Society based on my Japanese and Social Security Adminis tration report research. Many participants urged further study in this area and offered to send me materials describing their nations' programs. The result is this study which I hope that readers will find interesting and worthwhile."

Orio Giarini The "Geneva Association" (International Association for the Study of Risk and Insurance Economics) was founded in 1973. The main goal was to stimulate and organize objective research in the field of risk, uncertainty, and insurance, in a world in which such issues were clearly becoming of greater and greater relevance for all economic actors. This was a pioneer ing effort, especially as economic theory and the teaching of economics were still anchored to the key notion of general equilibrium under an assumption of certainty. Thus, we had to start our work almost from scratch. One of the first initiatives was to bring together in Geneva, in June of 1973, all the academics in Europe already involved in risk and insurance economics. We found eight from five different countries who never had met before. This seminar chaired by Raymond Barre, the first president of The Geneva Association, was the first of an annual series that became known as the seminar of "The European Group of Risk and Insurance Economists." Since then more than 100 economists from most European countries as well as participants from two other continents and in particular from the United States have taken part in this seminar."

Providing a comprehensive review of the main issues facing the management of insurance enterprises, 19 authors have collaborated to give an international perspective in areas such as strategy, corporate planning, organizations and staffing, costing, underwriting and premium rating, marketing, reserving and investment, profit analysis and regulation.;This book aims to be of interest to the management of insurance companies and brokers, those undertaking continuing professional education in insurance as well as students studying insurance subjects as part of postgraduate and undergraduate degrees.

Workers' compensation insurance presents a set of institutional charac teristics that are unique. For every other form of insurance, both the insurer and the coverage provided under the policy are completely controlled either by the federal or a state government, or by an arrangement between the insured and a property-casualty insurer. Unemployment insurance, Social Security, and bank-deposit insurance are examples for which a legis lative body sets the benefits. and a government agency prescribes the in surance premium. By contrast, the coverage and premiums for automobile, homeowners, and fire insurance are individual contractual arrangements between a policyholder and one of the more than 1800 U. S. property casualty insurance companies. Workers' compensation insurance, however, is a hybrid in which state legislatures stipulate the terms of coverage, while regulated competition is the major determinant of prices. State legislatures enact statutes that prescribe the replacement rate and duration of indemnity benefits, as well as full reimbursement of medical expenses. And although the manual rates for workers' compensation insurance continue to be administered by a prior approval process in most states, the competitive-market price for coverage is achieved through a variety of price-modification plans (Appel and Borba, 1988)."

This volume is a milestone on our journey toward developing a more comprehensive understanding of the underpinnings of corporate financial performance. Weare concerned with both the factors that cause the financial performance of some firms to be better than others at a point in time and those factors that influence the trajectory of firm financial performance over time. In addressing these issues, we consider theoretical and empirical work on financial performance, drawn from several literatures, as well as present the results from our own empirical study. The review of the theoretical and empirical work is contemporary; the major portion of data comprising the empirical study was collected in the early 1980s as part of the Columbia Business School project on corporate strategic planning, but some data sequences extend into the mid-1980s and early 1990s. Our goals are to improve understanding of firm financial performance by developing a more integrated framework and to develop a research agenda based on what we have learned. This volume consists of four chapters, 12 appendices that provide detailed technical support and development for various portions of the discussion and an extensive set of references. It interweaves results from published literature in various fields with our original empirical work and develops an integrative approach to the study of firm fmancial performance.