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The Role Of Commitment In Dynamic Contracts: Evidence From Life Insurance

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Author Info
Igal Hendel
Alessandro Lizzeri

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Abstract

We use data on life insurance contracts to study the properties of long-term contracts in a world where buyers cannot commit to a contract. The data are especially suited to test a theory of dynamic contracting since they include information on the entire profile of future premiums. All the patterns in the data fit the theoretical predictions of a model with symmetric learning and one-sided commitment à la Harris and Holmstom. The lack of commitment by consumers shapes contracts in the way predicted by the theory: all contracts involve front-loading (prepayment) of premiums. Front-loading generates a partial lock-in of consumers; more front-loading is associated with lower lapsation. Moreover, contracts that are more front-loaded have a lower present value of premiums over the period of coverage. This is consistent with the idea that front-loading enhances consumer commitment and that more front-loaded contracts retain better risk pools. © 2001 the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Article provided by MIT Press in its journal The Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Volume (Year): 118 (2003)
Issue (Month): 1 (February)
Pages: 299-327
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Handle: RePEc:tpr:qjecon:v:118:y:2003:i:1:p:299-327

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  1. Harris, Milton & Holstrom, Bengt, 1982. "A Theory of Wage Dynamics," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(3), pages 315-33, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Dionne, Georges & Doherty, Neil A, 1994. "Adverse Selection, Commitment, and Renegotiation: Extension to and Evidence from Insurance Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(2), pages 209-35, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Pauly, Mark V & Kunreuther, Howard & Hirth, Richard, 1995. "Guaranteed Renewability in Insurance," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 143-56, March.
  4. Kevin J. Murphy, 1986. "Incentives, Learning, and Compensation: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation of Managerial Labor Contracts," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(1), pages 59-76, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Fudenberg, Drew & Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1990. "Short-term contracts and long-term agency relationships," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 1-31, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. David M. Cutler, 1993. "Why Doesn't the Market Fully Insure Long-Term Care?," NBER Working Papers 4301, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Cochrane, John H, 1995. "Time-Consistent Health Insurance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(3), pages 445-73, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Diamond, Peter, 1992. "Organizing the Health Insurance Market," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(6), pages 1233-54, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. John Cawley & Tomas Philipson, 1996. "An Empirical Examination of Information Barriers to Trade in Insurance," NBER Working Papers 5669, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Pierre-Andre Chiappori & Bernard Salanie & Julie Valentin, 1999. "Early Starters versus Late Beginners," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(4), pages 731-760, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Pau Olivella & Marcos Vera-Hernandez, 2006. "Testing for adverse selection into private medical insurance," IFS Working Papers W06/02, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
  2. J. H. Abbring & P.-A. Chiappori & J. J. Heckman & J. Pinquet, 2002. "Testing for Moral Hazard on Dynamic Insurance Data," THEMA Working Papers 2002-24, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise. [Downloadable!]
  3. Alma Cohen & Liran Einav, 2005. "Estimating Risk Preferences from Deductible Choice," NBER Working Papers 11461, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Volker Meier, 2003. "Efficient Transfer of Aging Provisions in Private Health Insurance," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
  5. M. Dahchour & G. Dionne, 2002. "Pricing of Automobile Insurance Under Asymmetric Information : a Study on Panel Data," THEMA Working Papers 2002-12, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise. [Downloadable!]
  6. Dionne, G. & Michaud, P.C. & Dahchour, M., 2004. "Separating moral hazard from adverse selection in automobile insurance : longitudinal evidence from France," Discussion Paper 79, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Marc Pomp & M. Bijlsma & Machiel van Dijk & Michiel van Leuvensteijn & C. Zonderland, 2005. "Competition in markets for life insurance," CPB Documents 96, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. [Downloadable!]
  8. Alma Cohen, 2008. "Asymmetric Learning in Repeated Contracting: An Empirical Study," NBER Working Papers 13752, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Marco Battaglini, 2003. "Long-Term Contracting with Markovian Consumers," Theory workshop papers 505798000000000048, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Amy Finkelstein & Kathleen McGarry & Amir Sufi, 2005. "Dynamic Inefficiencies in Insurance Markets: Evidence from long-term care insurance," NBER Working Papers 11039, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Chiappori, Pierre Andre & Salanie, Bernard, 2002. "Testing Contract Theory: A Survey of Some Recent Work," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
  12. Jay H. Hong & Jose-Victor Rios-Rull, 2004. "Life insurance and household consumption," Working Papers 04-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
  13. Grönqvist, Erik, 2004. "Information Updating and Insurance Dropout: Evidence from Dental Insurance," Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 576, Stockholm School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  14. Amy Finkelstein & Kathleen McGarry & Amir Sufi, 2005. "Dynamic Inefficiencies in Insurance Markets: Evidence from Long-Term Care Insurance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 224-228, May. [Downloadable!]
  15. Hanming Fang & Alessandro Gavazza, 2007. "Dynamic Inefficiencies in Employment-Based Health Insurance System Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 13371, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Baumann, Florian & Meier, Volker & Werding, Martin, 2004. "Transferable Ageing Provisions in Individual Health Insurance Contracts," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  17. Hoy, M. & Ruse, M., 2008. "“No Solution to This Dilemma Exists”: Discrimination, Insurance, and the Human Genome Project," Working Papers 2008-8, University of Guelph, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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