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Preliminary Investigations for Better Monitoring: Learning in Repeated Insurance Audits

Author

Listed:
  • Reda Aboutajdine

    (Département d’Economie, École Polytechnique, Route de Saclay, Palaiseau 91128, France)

  • Pierre Picard

    (Département d’Economie, École Polytechnique, Route de Saclay, Palaiseau 91128, France)

Abstract

Audit mechanisms frequently take place in the context of repeated relationships between auditor and auditee. This paper focuses attention on the insurance fraud problem in a setting where insurers repeatedly verify claims satisfied by service providers (e.g., affiliated car repairers or members of managed care networks). We highlight a learning bias that leads insurers to over-audit service providers at the beginning of their relationship. The paper builds a bridge between the literature on optimal audit in insurance and the exploitation/exploration trade-off in multi-armed bandit problems.

Suggested Citation

  • Reda Aboutajdine & Pierre Picard, 2018. "Preliminary Investigations for Better Monitoring: Learning in Repeated Insurance Audits," Risks, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-22, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jrisks:v:6:y:2018:i:1:p:15-:d:134056
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bond, Eric W. & Crocker, Keith J., 1997. "Hardball and the soft touch: The economics of optimal insurance contracts with costly state verification and endogenous monitoring costs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 239-264, January.
    2. Dilip Mookherjee & Ivan Png, 1989. "Optimal Auditing, Insurance, and Redistribution," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 104(2), pages 399-415.
    3. Dionne, G. & St-Michel, P. & Gibbens, A., 1993. "An Economic Analysis of Insurance Fraud," Cahiers de recherche 93010, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.
    4. Georges Dionne & Florence Giuliano & Pierre Picard, 2009. "Optimal Auditing with Scoring: Theory and Application to Insurance Fraud," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(1), pages 58-70, January.
    5. Georges Dionne (ed.), 2013. "Handbook of Insurance," Springer Books, Springer, edition 2, number 978-1-4614-0155-1, December.
    6. Pierre Picard, 2012. "Economic Analysis of Insurance Fraud," Working Papers hal-00725561, HAL.
    7. Picard, Pierre, 2000. "On the Design of Optimal Insurance Policies under Manipulation of Audit Cost," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 41(4), pages 1049-1071, November.
    8. repec:hal:journl:hal-00366079 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Townsend, Robert M., 1979. "Optimal contracts and competitive markets with costly state verification," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 265-293, October.
    10. Douglas Gale & Martin Hellwig, 1985. "Incentive-Compatible Debt Contracts: The One-Period Problem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 52(4), pages 647-663.
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    Cited by:

    1. Reda Aboutajdine & Pierre Picard, 2019. "Reputation Effects in Repeated Audits, with Application to Insurance Fraud Deterrence," Working Papers hal-02373206, HAL.
    2. Reda Aboutajdine & Pierre Picard, 2019. "Should I Stalk or Should I Go? An Auditing Exploration/Exploitation Dilemma," Working Papers hal-02373199, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ex-post moral hazard; insurance fraud; optimal auditing; learning;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods
    • G0 - Financial Economics - - General
    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets
    • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • M2 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics
    • M4 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting
    • K2 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law

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