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Unravelling vs Unravelling: A Memo on Competitive Equilibriums and Trade in Insurance Markets

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  • Nathaniel Hendren

    (Harvard University, 1805 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.)

Abstract

Both Akerlof (1970) and Rothschild and Stiglitz (1976) show that insurance markets may “unravel”. This memo clarifies the distinction between these two notions of unravelling in the context of a binary loss model of insurance. I show that the two concepts are mutually exclusive occurrences. Moreover, I provide a regularity condition under which the two concepts are exhaustive of the set of possible occurrences in the model. Akerlof unravelling characterises when there are no gains to trade; Rothschild and Stiglitz unravelling shows that the standard notion of competition (pure strategy Nash equilibrium) is inadequate to describe the workings of insurance markets when there are gains to trade.

Suggested Citation

  • Nathaniel Hendren, 2014. "Unravelling vs Unravelling: A Memo on Competitive Equilibriums and Trade in Insurance Markets," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 39(2), pages 176-183, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:genrir:v:39:y:2014:i:2:p:176-183
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Florian Scheuer & Kent Smetters, 2014. "Could a Website Really Have Doomed the Health Exchanges? Multiple Equilibria, Initial Conditions and the Construction of the Fine," NBER Working Papers 19835, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. M. Martin Boyer & Richard Peter, 2020. "Insurance Fraud in a Rothschild–Stiglitz World," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 87(1), pages 117-142, March.
    3. Gemmo, Irina & Kubitza, Christian & Rothschild, Casey, 2020. "Constrained efficient equilibria in selection markets with continuous types," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    4. Attar, Andrea & Mariotti, Thomas & Salanié, François, 2019. "On competitive nonlinear pricing," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 14(1), January.
    5. Timothy J. Layton & Randall P. Ellis & Thomas G. McGuire, 2015. "Assessing Incentives for Adverse Selection in Health Plan Payment Systems," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series wp2015-024, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    6. Attar, Andrea & Mariotti, Thomas & Salanié, François, 2014. "Multiple Contracting in Insurance Markets," TSE Working Papers 14-532, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Sep 2016.
    7. Georges Dionne & Casey Rothschild, 2014. "Economic Effects of Risk Classification Bans," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 39(2), pages 184-221, September.
    8. Lisa L. Posey & Paul D. Thistle, 2019. "Large losses and equilibrium in insurance markets," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 44(2), pages 222-244, September.
    9. Casey Rothschild & Paul D. Thistle, 2022. "Supply, demand, and selection in insurance markets: Theory and applications in pictures," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 25(4), pages 419-444, December.
    10. Gemmo, Irina & Kubitza, Christian & Rothschild, Casey G., 2018. "The existence of the Miyazaki-Wilson-Spence equilibrium with continuous type distributions," ICIR Working Paper Series 32/18, Goethe University Frankfurt, International Center for Insurance Regulation (ICIR).
    11. Florian Scheuer & Kent Smetters, 2018. "How Initial Conditions Can Have Permanent Effects: The Case of the Affordable Care Act," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 302-343, November.
    12. Daniel F. Stone, 2016. "A few bad apples: Communication in the presence of strategic ideologues," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(2), pages 487-500, October.

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