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Experimental identification of asymmetric information: Evidence on crop insurance in the Philippines

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  • Gunnsteinsson, Snaebjorn

Abstract

I study asymmetric information in crop insurance in the Philippines using a two-level randomized field experiment and incentivized preference elicitation. In this first experimental study of moral hazard in non-health insurance, preventable damages double on randomly insured plots among farmers with high trust in the insurance provider. Farmers prefer insurance on plots that are at risk of floods and crop diseases, a sign of classic adverse selection, and plots that are far away from home, a sign of selection on anticipated moral hazard behavior, resulting in 72% higher payouts on preferred plots. Overcoming these challenges requires leveraging new technologies.

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  • Gunnsteinsson, Snaebjorn, 2020. "Experimental identification of asymmetric information: Evidence on crop insurance in the Philippines," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:144:y:2020:i:c:s0304387818313452
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.102414
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    Cited by:

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    2. Nihal Ahmed & Zeeshan Hamid & Farhan Mahboob & Khalil Ur Rehman & Muhammad Sibt e Ali & Piotr Senkus & Aneta Wysokińska-Senkus & Paweł Siemiński & Adam Skrzypek, 2022. "Causal Linkage among Agricultural Insurance, Air Pollution, and Agricultural Green Total Factor Productivity in United States: Pairwise Granger Causality Approach," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Ali, Williams & Abdulai, Awudu & Goetz, Renan & Owusu, Victor, 2021. "Risk, ambiguity and willingness to participate in crop insurance programs: Evidence from a field experiment," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 63(03), January.
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    5. Benjiang Ma & Qing Tang & Yifang Qin & Muhammad Farhan Bashir, 2021. "Policyholder cluster divergence based differential premium in diabetes insurance," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(7), pages 1793-1807, October.
    6. Peilu Zhang & Marco A. Palma, 2021. "Compulsory Versus Voluntary Insurance: An Online Experiment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(1), pages 106-125, January.
    7. Linwei Wang & Yixin Hu & Rong Kong, 2023. "The Impact of Bancassurance Interaction on the Adoption Behavior of Green Production Technology in Family Farms: Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-26, April.
    8. Shi-jie Jiang & Lilin Wang & Feiyun Xiang, 2023. "The Effect of Agriculture Insurance on Agricultural Carbon Emissions in China: The Mediation Role of Low-Carbon Technology Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Mao, Hui & Quan, Yurong & Fu, Yong & Chen, Shaojian, 2022. "Risk preferences, productive investment and straw return technology adoption by farmers in China," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322087, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Insurance; Adverse selection; Moral hazard; Selection on moral hazard; Information asymmetries; Selective trials; Crop insurance; Experiment; Philippines; Agriculture;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments

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