Publications

Article

Perceptions and the Politics of Finance: Junk Bonds and the Regulatory Seizure of First Capital Life

By: S. C. Gilson, H. DeAngelo and L. DeAngelo

In May 1991, one month after seizing Executive Life, California regulators seized First Capital Life (FCLIC). Both insurers were Drexel clients with large junk bond holdings, and both had experienced 'bank runs.' FCLIC's run followed regulators' televised comments that... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Bonds; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

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August 2010 (Revised August 2010)
Teaching Note

Malcolm Life Enhances Its Variable Annuities (TN)

By: Robert C. Pozen and David J. Pearlman

Teaching Note for 311041. View Details

Keywords: Annuities; Insurance Industry

2007
Book

An Experiment in Fair Value Accounting? The State of the Art in Research and Thought Leadership on Accounting for Life Assurance in the UK and Continental Europe

By: Joanne G Horton, Richard H. Macve and George Serafeim

"Fair value" is currently the central topic of debate in the development of accounting standards. While it has now been defined to mean an exit price in US GAAP, the IASB is still considering its own definition, and some commentators are arguing for versions of entry... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Financial Instruments; Framework; Market Entry and Exit; Insurance; Revenue Recognition; Fair Value Accounting; Standards; United Kingdom

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November 2001
Teaching Note

Provident Life and Accident Insurance: The Acquisition of Paul Revere TN

By: Mihir A. Desai, E. Scott Mayfield and Mark Veblen

Teaching Note for (9-202-044). View Details

Keywords: Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry

September 2018
Case

Verisk: Trailblazing in the Big Data Jungle

By: Andrew Wasynczuk, Francesca Gino and Karim Sameh

This case revolves around Verisk Analytics' initiatives to drive innovation throughout the firm's many business verticals. Verisk, originally named ISO, started life as an insurance rating agency in the early 1970s, acting as an intermediary between insurance companies... View Details

01 Jun 2023
HBS Case

A Nike Executive Hid His Criminal Past to Turn His Life Around. What If He Didn't Have To?

deflate,” Miller recalled in a recent Harvard Business School case. The partner had a job offer in his pocket that he had planned to hand Miller, but the prison time changed everything. View VideoVideo: Larry Miller looks back at the night he shot Edward White, what it... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Apparel & Accessories

January 2008 (Revised January 2009)
Case

The Armstrong Investigation

By: David Moss and Eugene Kintgen

In the early 20th century, public outrage at certain life insurance practices led to an investigation in New York State that threatened to curtail growth in the industry. Charles Evans Hughes guided the four-month-long Armstrong Investigation, which made startling... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Annuities; Insurance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Insurance Industry; New York (state, US)

September 2013
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: General Gale Pollock and Services for the Vision Impaired

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz and Patricia Bissett Higgins

In July 2012, retired United States Army Major General Gale Pollock created Elevivo, a venture that worked on developing a comprehensive disease management software system to support the growing number of visually impaired individuals by providing them with tailored... View Details

Keywords: United States; Health Care; Health Care Education; Insurance Companies; Disease Management; Technology; Military; Leadership Skills; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Education; Insurance; Information Technology; Entrepreneurship; Leadership; Information Technology Industry; Health Industry; United States

Teaching Interest

Business Opportunties in Climate Adaptation

By: John D. Macomber

This is a Short Intensive Program or SIP at Harvard Business School. It’s an optional student offering prior to the formal start of the Spring semester the following week. SIPs tend to cover new material on current topics, to be less formal than the HBS Case Study... View Details

Keywords: Resilience; Climate Risk; Climate Impact; Fire Protection; Insurance Risk Exposure; Hedge Fund; Public Health; Public Health Measures; Climate Change; Adaptation; Infrastructure; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Africa; Latin America

August 1976
Case

Norman Machinery Products, Inc. (C)

Presents the estate plan worked out by the son to deal with an estate planning issue. The plan involves the use of deferred compensation employment contract with the family business, a key-man life insurance policy, and a split-dollar life insurance policy. View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Family Business; Personal Finance; Corporate Finance; Manufacturing Industry

February 1986 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Travelers Mortgage Securities CMO

Describes a series of collateralized mortgage obligations offered by Travelers Insurance. Provides a general description of the life insurance business and the role of life insurance in the capital markets. Also describes a variety of mortgage related instruments,... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Capital Markets; Mortgages; Insurance Industry; United States

Article

New Interest in Incentive Financing

By: Samuel Hayes

The article presents the findings of a study on incentive financings as they apply to institutional investors, particularly life insurance company investors. The author made contact with investment officers in 29 insurance companies, and have collected a considerable... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Financing and Loans; Institutional Investing

May 1996
Case

First Capital Holdings Corp.

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Harry DeAngelo and Linda DeAngelo

The manager of a money-management firm considers whether to invest in the securities of a large, financially troubled, California-based life insurance holding company that holds 40% of its assets in high-yield junk bonds. Over the past year, the value of its portfolio... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Debt Securities; Bonds; Valuation; Investment Return; Fair Value Accounting; Financial Institutions; Insurance Industry

April 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Growing Financial Services in India: Aditya Birla Financial Services Group

By: Paul M. Healy and Rachna Tahilyani

Aditya Birla Financial Services Group is a large, broad-based, Indian financial services institution offering products ranging from life insurance and mutual funds to private equity. The company has witnessed a turnaround in recent years and regained lost market share.... View Details

Keywords: Regulatory Environment; Finance; Asset Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Transformation; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Business Processes; Organizational Structure; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Segmentation; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry; India

January 1991 (Revised March 1996)
Case

Profiling at National Mutual (A)

This case series describes a company grappling with organizational change through information technology. National Mutual Life Association vies for Australian insurance industry leadership with its long-time competitor. It has purchased an expert system called Client... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Insurance Industry; Australia

June 2023
Article

Regulatory Limits to Risk Management

By: Ishita Sen

Variable annuities, the largest liability of U.S. life insurers, are investment products containing long-dated minimum return guarantees. I show that guarantees with similar economic risks are treated differently by regulation and these differences impact insurers’... View Details

Keywords: Interest Rate Risk; Variable Annuities; Capital Regulation; Reinsurance; Derivatives; Risk Management; Interest Rates; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

SSRN

2021
Working Paper

The Great Unequalizer: Initial Health Effects of COVID-19 in the United States

By: Marcella Alsan, Amitabh Chandra and Kosali I. Simon

We measure inequities from the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality and hospitalizations in the United States during the early months of the outbreak. We discuss challenges in measuring health outcomes and health inequality, some of which are specific to COVID-19 and others... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Inequality; Health Pandemics; Demographics; Equality and Inequality

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May 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Lincoln Financial Meets the Financial Crisis

By: Robert C. Pozen and Peter Goodspeed Spring

In March of 2009, Lincoln Financial Group's CEO Dennis Glass was facing a difficult decision as to how he would replenish his company's capital, which could quickly fall to dangerously low levels as a result of the financial crisis. Though the cost of raising capital... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Financial Crisis; Capital; Private Equity; Crisis Management; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Insurance Industry