The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the vi... more The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Travelers Companies, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. This paper is for general informational purposes only.
In this paper, demand for income redistribution is elicited through a discrete choice experiment ... more In this paper, demand for income redistribution is elicited through a discrete choice experiment performed with a representative sample of the Swiss population. Attributes include both the amount of redistribution as a share of GDP and its uses (working poor, the unemployed, old-age pensioners, families with children, people in ill health) as well as the nationality of beneficiaries. The paper investigates economic determinants of citizens’ willingness to pay for redistribution, using static and dynamic measures of well-being. Demand for redistribution is shown to increase rather than decrease with income and other static measures of well-being, contradicting the conventional Meltzer-Richard model. However, the dynamic Prospect of Upward Mobility hypothesis receives limited empirical support.
Actors on markets are under continuous pressure to adjust. Consumers’ changes in taste lead to ch... more Actors on markets are under continuous pressure to adjust. Consumers’ changes in taste lead to changes in demand, new technologies provide rivals with competitive advantage, and public authorities step in to regulate or even prohibit business. This pressure to adjust is transmitted by price signals indicating to firms the need to adapt their goods and services to new circumstances. In health care, however, fluctuating market prices formedical services are incompatiblewith the key principal-agent relationship between the patient and the service provider because they might violate both the participation and the incentive compatibility constraints (see Chapter 11, Appendix). One possibility of avoiding fluctuating prices is bargaining over fee schedules, which paves the way for the important role of professional associations and public authorities in health care. The inflexibility of fees and prices is further enhanced by the fact that purchases of health care goods and services such as pharmaceuticals abroad are often legally prohibited. This serves to insulate domestic markets from international shocks but also competition.
In den vorhergehenden Kapiteln 4 und 6 haben wir schon des ofteren auf den Zusammenhang zwischen ... more In den vorhergehenden Kapiteln 4 und 6 haben wir schon des ofteren auf den Zusammenhang zwischen Produktionsfaktoren und Produktionsmoglichkeiten eines Landes hingewiesen, ohne jedoch den Einflus des Ausenhandels auf die Nachfrage und das Angebot der Produktionsfaktoren sowie auf die Faktorpreise naher zu spezifizieren. Diese Einflusse wollen wir nun im folgenden untersuchen.
A simple model of bank behaviour is shown to have implications for solvency regulation of the Bas... more A simple model of bank behaviour is shown to have implications for solvency regulation of the Basel type. The investment division seeks to maximize RORAC, with higher solvency S lowering the cost of refinancing but tying costly capital. In period 1, exogenous changes in expected returns d[Formula: see text] and in volatility d[Formula: see text] occur, causing optimal adjustments dS*/ d[Formula: see text] and dS*/ d[Formula: see text] in period 2. In period 3, the actual adjustment dS* creates an endogenous trade-off with slope d[Formula: see text]/ d[Formula: see text]. Basel-type regulation modifies this slope, inducing senior management to opt for a higher value of σ in several situations. Solvency regulation can thus run counter its stated objective.
From an international perspective, Swiss health policy is of interest for several reasons. First,... more From an international perspective, Swiss health policy is of interest for several reasons. First, it respects consumer preferences to a degree that is otherwise only found in the United States. Second, it is decentralised in that important authorities continue to be vested with the Cantons rather than the federal state. Third, since the passing of the federal social insurance law of 1994 it comes close to what is commonly called ‘regulated competition’ to an extent that likely exceeds that of the often mentioned Dutch health care reform (Van de Ven, 1990).
This paper deals with a decision-making problem that has hardly been addressed so far. Frequently... more This paper deals with a decision-making problem that has hardly been addressed so far. Frequently, management is challenged to deal with sums of random variables, the distribution of which is not fully known. For example, a high return on an investment project may be “more likely” than a low one in the first period but “less likely” in the second
This contribution aims to expand insurability using partial linear information (LPI) on probabili... more This contribution aims to expand insurability using partial linear information (LPI) on probabilities of the type, $ {r}_{1}\ge {r}_{3} $ (with $ {r}_{1}+{r}_{2}+{r}_{3}+\dots {r}_{n} = {1} $). LPI theory permits to exploit such weak information for systematic decision-making provided the decision-maker is willing to apply the maxEmin criterion in a game against Nature. The maxEmin rule is a natural generalization of expected profit (probabilities are known) and the maximin rule (probabilities are unknown). LPI theory is used to find out whether a crypto assets portfolio offered to an insurance company is insurable. In an example, an unfavorable future development of losses causes maximum expected loss to exceed the present value of premiums, rendering the portfolio uninsurable according to maxEmin. However, this changes when LPI concerning this development is available, while the integration of uncertain returns from investing the extra premium fails to achieve insurability in this...
Zwar last sich aus der realistischen Analyse der Funktionsbedingungen der Versicherungsmarkte sow... more Zwar last sich aus der realistischen Analyse der Funktionsbedingungen der Versicherungsmarkte sowie der unternehmerischen Versicherungstechnologie nicht mehr direkt die Notwendigkeit von Wettbewerbseinschrankungen und anderen Formen der Regulierung der Versicherungswirtschaft herleiten. Aus diesem rein okonomischen Ergebnis kann indes nicht die Konsequenz gezogen werden, das der Wettbewerb auf den Versicherungsmarkten vollig dem freien Spiel der Marktkrafte uberlassen werden durfe. Vielmehr ist zu berucksichtigen, das staatliche Ziele des Verbraucherschutzes erhebliche Bedeutung fur die Begrundung von regulierenden Eingriffen in den freien Wettbewerb gewonnen haben. Dies gilt nicht nur fur die deutschen, sondern praktisch fur alle europaischen Versicherungsmarkte.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the vi... more The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Travelers Companies, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. This paper is for general informational purposes only.
In this paper, demand for income redistribution is elicited through a discrete choice experiment ... more In this paper, demand for income redistribution is elicited through a discrete choice experiment performed with a representative sample of the Swiss population. Attributes include both the amount of redistribution as a share of GDP and its uses (working poor, the unemployed, old-age pensioners, families with children, people in ill health) as well as the nationality of beneficiaries. The paper investigates economic determinants of citizens’ willingness to pay for redistribution, using static and dynamic measures of well-being. Demand for redistribution is shown to increase rather than decrease with income and other static measures of well-being, contradicting the conventional Meltzer-Richard model. However, the dynamic Prospect of Upward Mobility hypothesis receives limited empirical support.
Actors on markets are under continuous pressure to adjust. Consumers’ changes in taste lead to ch... more Actors on markets are under continuous pressure to adjust. Consumers’ changes in taste lead to changes in demand, new technologies provide rivals with competitive advantage, and public authorities step in to regulate or even prohibit business. This pressure to adjust is transmitted by price signals indicating to firms the need to adapt their goods and services to new circumstances. In health care, however, fluctuating market prices formedical services are incompatiblewith the key principal-agent relationship between the patient and the service provider because they might violate both the participation and the incentive compatibility constraints (see Chapter 11, Appendix). One possibility of avoiding fluctuating prices is bargaining over fee schedules, which paves the way for the important role of professional associations and public authorities in health care. The inflexibility of fees and prices is further enhanced by the fact that purchases of health care goods and services such as pharmaceuticals abroad are often legally prohibited. This serves to insulate domestic markets from international shocks but also competition.
In den vorhergehenden Kapiteln 4 und 6 haben wir schon des ofteren auf den Zusammenhang zwischen ... more In den vorhergehenden Kapiteln 4 und 6 haben wir schon des ofteren auf den Zusammenhang zwischen Produktionsfaktoren und Produktionsmoglichkeiten eines Landes hingewiesen, ohne jedoch den Einflus des Ausenhandels auf die Nachfrage und das Angebot der Produktionsfaktoren sowie auf die Faktorpreise naher zu spezifizieren. Diese Einflusse wollen wir nun im folgenden untersuchen.
A simple model of bank behaviour is shown to have implications for solvency regulation of the Bas... more A simple model of bank behaviour is shown to have implications for solvency regulation of the Basel type. The investment division seeks to maximize RORAC, with higher solvency S lowering the cost of refinancing but tying costly capital. In period 1, exogenous changes in expected returns d[Formula: see text] and in volatility d[Formula: see text] occur, causing optimal adjustments dS*/ d[Formula: see text] and dS*/ d[Formula: see text] in period 2. In period 3, the actual adjustment dS* creates an endogenous trade-off with slope d[Formula: see text]/ d[Formula: see text]. Basel-type regulation modifies this slope, inducing senior management to opt for a higher value of σ in several situations. Solvency regulation can thus run counter its stated objective.
From an international perspective, Swiss health policy is of interest for several reasons. First,... more From an international perspective, Swiss health policy is of interest for several reasons. First, it respects consumer preferences to a degree that is otherwise only found in the United States. Second, it is decentralised in that important authorities continue to be vested with the Cantons rather than the federal state. Third, since the passing of the federal social insurance law of 1994 it comes close to what is commonly called ‘regulated competition’ to an extent that likely exceeds that of the often mentioned Dutch health care reform (Van de Ven, 1990).
This paper deals with a decision-making problem that has hardly been addressed so far. Frequently... more This paper deals with a decision-making problem that has hardly been addressed so far. Frequently, management is challenged to deal with sums of random variables, the distribution of which is not fully known. For example, a high return on an investment project may be “more likely” than a low one in the first period but “less likely” in the second
This contribution aims to expand insurability using partial linear information (LPI) on probabili... more This contribution aims to expand insurability using partial linear information (LPI) on probabilities of the type, $ {r}_{1}\ge {r}_{3} $ (with $ {r}_{1}+{r}_{2}+{r}_{3}+\dots {r}_{n} = {1} $). LPI theory permits to exploit such weak information for systematic decision-making provided the decision-maker is willing to apply the maxEmin criterion in a game against Nature. The maxEmin rule is a natural generalization of expected profit (probabilities are known) and the maximin rule (probabilities are unknown). LPI theory is used to find out whether a crypto assets portfolio offered to an insurance company is insurable. In an example, an unfavorable future development of losses causes maximum expected loss to exceed the present value of premiums, rendering the portfolio uninsurable according to maxEmin. However, this changes when LPI concerning this development is available, while the integration of uncertain returns from investing the extra premium fails to achieve insurability in this...
Zwar last sich aus der realistischen Analyse der Funktionsbedingungen der Versicherungsmarkte sow... more Zwar last sich aus der realistischen Analyse der Funktionsbedingungen der Versicherungsmarkte sowie der unternehmerischen Versicherungstechnologie nicht mehr direkt die Notwendigkeit von Wettbewerbseinschrankungen und anderen Formen der Regulierung der Versicherungswirtschaft herleiten. Aus diesem rein okonomischen Ergebnis kann indes nicht die Konsequenz gezogen werden, das der Wettbewerb auf den Versicherungsmarkten vollig dem freien Spiel der Marktkrafte uberlassen werden durfe. Vielmehr ist zu berucksichtigen, das staatliche Ziele des Verbraucherschutzes erhebliche Bedeutung fur die Begrundung von regulierenden Eingriffen in den freien Wettbewerb gewonnen haben. Dies gilt nicht nur fur die deutschen, sondern praktisch fur alle europaischen Versicherungsmarkte.
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