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Determinants of Efficiency and Productivity in German Property-Liability Insurance: Evidence for 1995–2006

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  • Michael Luhnen

    (Institute of Insurance Economics, University of St. Gallen, Kirchlistrasse 2, St. Gallen 9010, Switzerland)

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of efficiency and productivity in the German property-liability insurance industry, a market that has experienced significant change in recent years. Using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and covering the period 1995–2006, we find that there is potential for the market to improve by about 20 percentage points in terms of technical efficiency and about 50 percentage points in terms of cost efficiency. Furthermore, the analysis shows moderate total factor productivity growth and low efficiency growth during the sample period. A major contribution of the paper is its analysis of six efficiency determinants – firm size, distribution channels, ownership forms, product specialisation, financial leverage and premium growth – using a truncated regression and bootstrapping approach to avoid invalid inference. The Geneva Papers (2009) 34, 483–505. doi:10.1057/gpp.2009.10

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Luhnen, 2009. "Determinants of Efficiency and Productivity in German Property-Liability Insurance: Evidence for 1995–2006," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 34(3), pages 483-505, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:gpprii:v:34:y:2009:i:3:p:483-505
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    Cited by:

    1. Wanke, Peter & Barros, Carlos Pestana, 2016. "Efficiency drivers in Brazilian insurance: A two-stage DEA meta frontier-data mining approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 8-22.
    2. Hodori, Arif & Masih, Mansur, 2017. "Determinants of profitability of takaful operators: new evidence from Malaysia based on dynamic GMM approach," MPRA Paper 79441, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Biener, Christian & Eling, Martin & Jia, Ruo, 2017. "The structure of the global reinsurance market: An analysis of efficiency, scale, and scope," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 213-229.
    4. Kaffash, Sepideh & Azizi, Roza & Huang, Ying & Zhu, Joe, 2020. "A survey of data envelopment analysis applications in the insurance industry 1993–2018," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 284(3), pages 801-813.
    5. Basri Savitha & Subrato Banerjee & Ankitha Shetty, 2019. "Product diversification versus technical efficiency of conglomerate life microinsurance companies: evidence from India," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 44(3), pages 527-547, July.
    6. Huang, Wei & Eling, Martin, 2013. "An efficiency comparison of the non-life insurance industry in the BRIC countries," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 226(3), pages 577-591.
    7. Carlos Pestana Barros & Silvestre Dumbo & Peter Wanke, 2014. "Efficiency Determinants and Capacity Issues in Angolan Insurance Companies," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 82(3), pages 455-467, September.
    8. Baltuttis, Dennik & Töppel, Jannick & Tränkler, Timm & Wiethe, Christian, 2020. "Managing the risks of energy efficiency insurances in a portfolio context: An actuarial diversification approach," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    9. Ranjit Tiwari & Harishankar Vidyarthi & Anand Kumar, 2023. "Nexus between Intellectual Capital and Bank Productivity in India," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-17, January.
    10. Biener, Christian & Eling, Martin & Jia, Ruo, 2016. "The Roles of Industry Idiosyncrasy, Cost Efficiency, and Risk in Internationalization: Evidence from the Insurance Industry," Working Papers on Finance 1602, University of St. Gallen, School of Finance.
    11. Roger Carrington & Tim Coelli & D.S. Prasada Rao, 2011. "Australian Private Health Insurance Productivity Growth: Is there Scope to Limit Premium Increases?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 87(276), pages 125-139, March.
    12. Aysen ALTUN ADA & Nilufer DALKILIC, 2014. "Efficiency Analysis in Islamic Banks: A Study for Malaysia and Turkey," Journal of BRSA Banking and Financial Markets, Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, vol. 8(1), pages 9-33.
    13. Ankitha Shetty & Savitha Basri, 2020. "Assessing the Technical Efficiency of Traditional and Corporate Agents in Indian Life Insurance Industry: Slack-based Data Envelopment Analysis Approach," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 21(2), pages 490-506, April.
    14. Biener, Christian & Eling, Martin & Wirfs, Jan Hendrik, 2016. "The determinants of efficiency and productivity in the Swiss insurance industry," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(2), pages 703-714.
    15. Adnan Kasman & Evrim Turgutlu, 2011. "Performance of European insurance firms in the single insurance market," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 363-378.
    16. Zhang, Tidong & Cao, Jingsheng, 2023. "Impact of regulatory policy adjustments on insurance company costs and cost efficiency," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).
    17. Shao, Benjamin B.M. & Lin, Winston T., 2016. "Assessing output performance of information technology service industries: Productivity, innovation and catch-up," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 43-53.
    18. Schaper, Philipp, 2017. "Under pressure: how the business environment affects productivity and efficiency of European life insurance companiesAuthor-Name: Eling, Martin," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 258(3), pages 1082-1094.
    19. Ana María Reyna & Hugo J. Fuentes, 2018. "A cost efficiency analysis of the insurance industry in Mexico," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 49-64, February.

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