Publications

2017
Working Paper

The Importance of Unemployment Insurance as an Automatic Stabilizer

By: Marco Di Maggio and Amir Kermani

We assess the extent to which unemployment insurance (UI) serves as an automatic stabilizer to mitigate the economy's sensitivity to shocks. Using a local labor market design based on heterogeneity in local benefit generosity (defined as the percentage of household... View Details

Keywords: Unemployment Insurance; Automatic Stabilizers; Bartik Shocks; Aggregate Demand; System Shocks; Employment; Balance and Stability; Insurance; Volatility; Insurance Industry

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2009
Working Paper

Labor Regulations and European Private Equity

By: Ant Bozkaya and William R. Kerr

European nations substitute between employment protection regulations and labor market expenditures (e.g., unemployment insurance benefits) for providing worker insurance. Employment regulations more directly tax firms making frequent labor adjustments than other labor... View Details

Keywords: Employment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Taxation; Insurance; Investment; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Europe

Article

Reaching for Yield in the Bond Market

By: Bo Becker and Victoria Ivashina

Reaching for yield—the propensity to buy riskier assets in order to achieve higher yields—is believed to be an important factor contributing to the credit cycle. This paper analyzes this phenomenon in the corporate bond market. Specifically, we show evidence for... View Details

Keywords: Fixed Income; Reaching For Yield; Financial Intermediation; Insurance Companies; Insurance; Assets; Bonds; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management; Insurance Industry

SSRN

January 1993 (Revised November 1995)
Case

AXA: The Global Insurance Company

Claude Bebear, the CEO of AXA, the tenth-largest insurer in Europe, has just completed an acquisition of the Equitable, the seventh-largest insurer in the United States. As part of his strategy to make AXA the first truly global insurance company, Bebear is considering... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Insurance; Global Strategy; Acquisition; Insurance Industry; Asia; North America; Europe

2007
Chapter

Labor Market Regulations and European Venture Capital Investment

By: Ant Bozkaya and William R. Kerr

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Human Capital; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics; Business and Government Relations; Europe

September 2014 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Marketing Marijuana in Colorado

By: John A. Quelch and David Lane

Colorado's 2014 legalization of marijuana for adult recreational (not just medical) use created a new market that entrepreneurs rushed to enter, channeled by regulations that aimed to minimize marijuana's access to minors while not stifling the emergent new industry.... View Details

Keywords: Public Health; Regulation; Marijuana; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Public Sector; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Health Industry; Colorado

July 2019 (Revised March 2020)
Case

At-Bay Cyber Insurance

By: Marco Di Maggio and David Lane

At-Bay was a cyber insurance startup that offered companies coverage against a wide array of cyber risks—exposure to which the firm was able to quickly assess and price on the basis of technical expertise that traditional insurance carriers lacked. In mid-2019, At-Bay... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Insurance; Disruptive Innovation; Risk Management; Product Marketing; Distribution Channels; Information Technology; Salesforce Management; Insurance Industry

November 1995 (Revised April 1998)
Case

National Insurance Corporation

The case visits the catastrophe insurance business at an interesting time in the history of the insurance markets. A major reinsurer, National Insurance, is taking a look at the new insurance derivatives being traded on the Chicago Board of Trade with a view to using... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Insurance; Capital Markets; Insurance Industry; United States

2009
Working Paper

Anger and Regulation

By: Rafael Di Tella and Juan Dubra

We propose a model where voters experience an emotional cost when they observe a firm that has displayed insufficient concern for other people's welfare (altruism) in the process of making high profits. Even with few truly altruistic firms, an equilibrium may emerge... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Consumer Behavior; Monopoly; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Emotions; Welfare

Article

Marketing Complex Financial Products in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Rainfall Insurance in India

By: Sarthak Gaurav, Shawn A. Cole and Jeremy Tobacman

Recent financial liberalization in emerging economies has led to the rapid introduction of new financial products. Lack of experience with financial products, low levels of education, and low financial literacy may slow adoption of these products. This article reports... View Details

Keywords: Literacy; Insurance; Marketing; Decisions; Demand and Consumers; Financial Instruments; Emerging Markets; Education; Personal Finance; Agribusiness; Developing Countries and Economies; Innovation and Invention; Gujarat

Research Summary

Book Chapter on Insurance Market in Brazil (with Marcelo de Paiva Abreu):

Little is known about the Brazilian insurance market, especially in the period before 1913. I am currently working on a book chapter for SwissRe (co-authored with prof. Marcelo de Paiva Abreu) that will hopefully fill in this gap in the literature. View Details

27 Jan 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Labor Regulations and European Private Equity

Keywords: by Ant Bozkaya & William R. Kerr

April 2014
Teaching Note

Taikang Insurance: Standing Out In China's Crowded Insurance Market

By: William C. Kirby and Erica M. Zendell

March 18, 2009
Article

Regulate, Baby, Regulate

The U.S. today faces its biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression. That is why Barack Obama and his team have been looking to Franklin Delano Roosevelt for help. The stimulus measure passed by Congress in February that includes money for building... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Management Teams; Infrastructure; Insurance; Negotiation Deal; Government and Politics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Credit; Banks and Banking; Debt Securities; United States

July 2019
Article

The Impact of Price Regulation on the Availability of New Drugs in Germany

By: Ariel Dora Stern, Felicitas Pietrulla, Annika Herr, Aaron S. Kesselheim and Ameet Sarpatwari

The 2011 German Pharmaceutical Market Restructuring Act (“AMNOG”) subjected branded, non-rare disease drugs to price regulation based on an assessment of their clinical benefit. Assessment outcomes range from “major added benefit” to “less benefit than the appropriate... View Details

Keywords: Regulation; Pharmaceuticals; Healthcare; Health Care and Treatment; Price; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Pharmaceutical Industry; Germany

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December 2011
Article

Deposit Insurance and Subsidized Recapitalizations

By: Lucy White and Alan Morrison

The 2007–2009 financial crisis saw a vast expansion in deposit insurance guarantees around the world and yet our understanding of the design and consequences of deposit insurance schemes is in its infancy. We provide a new rationale for the provision of deposit... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Insurance; Taxation; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry

Article

Understanding the Advice of Commissions-Motivated Agents: Evidence from the Indian Life Insurance Market

By: Santosh Anagol, Shawn Cole and Shayak Sarkar

We conduct a series of field experiments to evaluate the quality of advice provided by life insurance agents in India. Agents overwhelmingly recommend unsuitable, strictly dominated products, which provide high commissions to the agent. Agents cater to the beliefs of... View Details

Keywords: Advice; Customers; Insurance; Service Operations; Motivation and Incentives; Ethics; India

August 2023
Supplement

Zurich Insurance (C): Re-Establishing a Leading Market Position in Retail

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Stefano Brusoni, Claudio Freser, Karolin Frankenberger and Ana Procopio Schoen

2012
Working Paper

Reaching for Yield in the Bond Market

By: Bo Becker and Victoria Ivashina

Reaching-for-yield—the propensity to buy riskier assets in order to achieve higher yields—is believed to be an important factor contributing to the credit cycle. This paper analyses this phenomenon in the corporate bond market. Specifically, we show evidence for... View Details

Keywords: Fixed Income; Reaching For Yield; Financial Intermediation; Insurance Companies; Insurance; Bonds; Assets; Risk Management; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Insurance Industry