IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/gpprii/v39y2014i4p768-781.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Meaning of Risk? Insights from The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review

Author

Listed:
  • Jean-François Outreville

    (INSEEC Business School, 63, Boulevard Exelmans, 75016 Paris, France)

Abstract

The Geneva Association and European Group of Risk and Insurance Economists, through publications like The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, serve as a catalyst for progress in the understanding of risk and insurance matters. The purpose of this paper is to review and summarise some of the papers published in 2012 and 2013 that could help us to understand what risk is and the implications for the insurance industry. Although the idea of risk may be difficult to conceptualise, risk is of considerable importance for the functioning of all economies and economic agents. Risk aversion, adverse selection, asymmetric information and the performance of insurance markets are important issues that are regularly discussed in the review. These issues are of particular relevance for insurers and the proper functioning of insurance markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-François Outreville, 2014. "The Meaning of Risk? Insights from The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 39(4), pages 768-781, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:gpprii:v:39:y:2014:i:4:p:768-781
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/gpp/journal/v39/n4/pdf/gpp201431a.pdf
    File Function: Link to full text PDF
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/gpp/journal/v39/n4/full/gpp201431a.html
    File Function: Link to full text HTML
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andy C W Chui & Chuck C Y Kwok, 2008. "National culture and life insurance consumption," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(1), pages 88-101, January.
    2. LeRoy, Stephen F & Singell, Larry D, Jr, 1987. "Knight on Risk and Uncertainty," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(2), pages 394-406, April.
    3. Renaud Bourlès & Dominique Henriet, 2012. "Risk-sharing Contracts with Asymmetric Information," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 37(1), pages 27-56, March.
    4. Keith J Crocker & Arthur Snow, 2008. "Background Risk and the Performance of Insurance Markets under Adverse Selection," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 33(2), pages 137-160, December.
    5. Philippe Bertrand & Jean-Luc Prigent, 2010. "A Note on Risk Aversion, Prudence and Portfolio Insurance," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 35(1), pages 81-92, June.
    6. Georges Dionne (ed.), 2013. "Handbook of Insurance," Springer Books, Springer, edition 2, number 978-1-4614-0155-1, October.
    7. Dorra Riahi & Louis Levy-Garboua & Claude Montmarquette, 2013. "Competitive Insurance Markets and Adverse Selection in the Lab," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 38(1), pages 87-113, March.
    8. Michael Rothschild & Joseph Stiglitz, 1976. "Equilibrium in Competitive Insurance Markets: An Essay on the Economics of Imperfect Information," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 90(4), pages 629-649.
    9. Ursina Meier & J. Francois Outreville, 2010. "Business cycles in insurance and reinsurance: international diversification effects," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(8), pages 659-668.
    10. EECKHOUDT, Louis, 2012. "Beyond risk aversion: why, how and what's next?," LIDAM Reprints CORE 2514, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    11. Kili C Wang & Rachel J Huang & Larry Y Tzeng, 2009. "Empirical Evidence for Advantageous Selection in the Commercial Fire Insurance Market*," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 34(1), pages 1-19, June.
    12. Eeckhoudt, Louis & Gollier, Christian & Schlesinger, Harris, 1996. "Changes in Background Risk and Risk-Taking Behavior," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(3), pages 683-689, May.
    13. Michael Sherris, 2006. "Solvency, Capital Allocation, and Fair Rate of Return in Insurance," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 73(1), pages 71-96, March.
    14. Alma Cohen & Peter Siegelman, 2010. "Testing for Adverse Selection in Insurance Markets," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 39-84, March.
    15. Randy E Dumm & David L Eckles & Martin Halek, 2013. "An Examination of Adverse Selection in the Public Provision of Insurance," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 38(2), pages 127-147, September.
    16. W Henry Chiu, 2012. "Risk Aversion, Downside Risk Aversion and Paying for Stochastic Improvements," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 37(1), pages 1-26, March.
    17. Chi-Hung Chang & Chien-Chiang Lee, 2012. "Non-Linearity Between Life Insurance and Economic Development: A Revisited Approach," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 37(2), pages 223-257, September.
    18. Neil Doherty, 2013. "Risk and the Endogenous Economist: Some Comparisons of the Treatment of Risk in Physics and Economics*," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 38(1), pages 1-22, March.
    19. Epermanis, Karen & Harrington, Scott E., 2006. "Market Discipline in Property/Casualty Insurance: Evidence from Premium Growth Surrounding Changes in Financial Strength Ratings," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(6), pages 1515-1544, September.
    20. J. François Outreville, 2013. "The Relationship Between Insurance and Economic Development: 85 Empirical Papers for a Review of the Literature," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 16(1), pages 71-122, March.
    21. Mary A. Weiss & Joon‐Hai Chung, 2004. "U.S. Reinsurance Prices, Financial Quality, and Global Capacity," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 71(3), pages 437-467, September.
    22. Rachel J Huang & Pai-Ta Shih & Larry Y Tzeng, 2012. "Disappointment and the Optimal Insurance Contract," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 37(2), pages 258-284, September.
    23. Julien Hardelin & Sabine Lemoyne de Forges, 2012. "Raising Capital in an Insurance Oligopoly Market," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 37(1), pages 83-108, March.
    24. Louis Eeckhoudt & Christian Gollier, 2005. "The impact of prudence on optimal prevention," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 26(4), pages 989-994, November.
    25. Pierre-Andre Chiappori & Bernard Salanie, 2000. "Testing for Asymmetric Information in Insurance Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(1), pages 56-78, February.
    26. Pierre Picard & Jean Pinquet, 2013. "Optimal Risk Financing in Large Corporations through Insurance Captives," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 38(1), pages 48-86, March.
    27. Ursina B. Meier & J. François Outreville, 2006. "Business cycles in insurance and reinsurance: the case of France, Germany and Switzerland," Journal of Risk Finance, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 7(2), pages 160-176, March.
    28. J. Francois Outreville, 2014. "Risk Aversion, Risk Behavior, and Demand for Insurance: A Survey," Journal of Insurance Issues, Western Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 37(2), pages 158-186.
    29. Froot, Kenneth A. & O'Connell, Paul G.J., 2008. "On the pricing of intermediated risks: Theory and application to catastrophe reinsurance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 69-85, January.
    30. Park, Sojung Carol & Lemaire, Jean, 2012. "The Impact of Culture on the Demand for Non-Life Insurance," ASTIN Bulletin, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(2), pages 501-527, November.
    31. Christian Thomann & Razvan Pascalau & J.-Matthias Graf von der Schulenburg, 2012. "Corporate Management of Highly Dynamic Risks: Evidence from the Demand for Terrorism Insurance in Germany," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 37(1), pages 57-82, March.
    32. David E. Bell, 1985. "Disappointment in Decision Making Under Uncertainty," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(1), pages 1-27, February.
    33. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    34. Martin Eling & Joan T Schmit, 2012. "Is There Market Discipline in the European Insurance Industry? An Analysis of the German Insurance Market," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 37(2), pages 180-207, September.
    35. Graham Loomes & Robert Sugden, 1986. "Disappointment and Dynamic Consistency in Choice under Uncertainty," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 53(2), pages 271-282.
    36. Fred Schroyen, 2013. "Attitudes Towards Income Risk in the Presence of Quantity Constraints*," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 38(2), pages 183-209, September.
    37. Ken Seng Tan & Chengguo Weng, 2012. "Enhancing Insurer Value Using Reinsurance and Value-at-Risk Criterion," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 37(1), pages 109-140, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. CATRINA, Ersilia, 2018. "Insurance, A Guaranteed Risk Or A Risk Assumed?," MPRA Paper 87769, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Apr 2018.
    2. Ersilia CATRINA, 2018. "Insurance, A Guaranteed Risk Or A Risk Assumed?," Junior Scientific Researcher, SC Research Publishing SRL, vol. 4(1), pages 121-133, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dionne, Georges & Harrington, Scott, 2017. "Insurance and Insurance Markets," Working Papers 17-2, HEC Montreal, Canada Research Chair in Risk Management.
    2. Hao Zheng & Yi Yao & Yinglu Deng & Feng Gao, 2022. "Information asymmetry, ex ante moral hazard, and uninsurable risk in liability coverage: Evidence from China's automobile insurance market," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 89(1), pages 131-160, March.
    3. Johannes Spinnewijn, 2017. "Heterogeneity, Demand for Insurance, and Adverse Selection," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 308-343, February.
    4. Dionne, Georges & Fombaron, Nathalie & Doherty, Neil, 2012. "Adverse selection in insurance contracting," Working Papers 12-8, HEC Montreal, Canada Research Chair in Risk Management.
    5. Daniel Bauer & Jochen Russ & Nan Zhu, 2020. "Asymmetric information in secondary insurance markets: Evidence from the life settlements market," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 11(3), pages 1143-1175, July.
    6. Yi Yao & Joan T. Schmit & Justin R. Sydnor, 2017. "The Role Of Pregnancy In Micro Health Insurance: Evidence Of Adverse Selection From Pakistan," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 84(4), pages 1073-1102, December.
    7. Christian Gollier & James Hammitt & Nicolas Treich, 2013. "Risk and choice: A research saga," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 129-145, October.
    8. Sebastian Panthöfer, 2016. "Risk Selection under Public Health Insurance with Opt‐Out," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(9), pages 1163-1181, September.
    9. Nathaniel Hendren & Camille Landais & Johannes Spinnewijn, 2021. "Choice in Insurance Markets: A Pigouvian Approach to Social Insurance Design," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 457-486, August.
    10. Raj Chetty & Amy Finkelstein, 2012. "Social Insurance: Connecting Theory to Data," NBER Working Papers 18433, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Sebastian Soika, 2018. "Moral Hazard and Advantageous Selection in Private Disability Insurance," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 43(1), pages 97-125, January.
    12. Ciprian MatiÅŸ & Eugenia MatiÅŸ, 2013. "Asymmetric Information In Insurance Field: Some General Considerations," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 1(15), pages 1-17.
    13. Karl Ove Aarbu, 2017. "Asymmetric Information in the Home Insurance Market," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 84(1), pages 35-72, March.
    14. Huang, Rachel J. & Jeng, Vivian & Wang, Cheng-Wei & Yue, Jack C., 2021. "Does size and book-to-market contain intangible information about managerial incentives? Learning from corporate D&O insurance purchase," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    15. 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.
    16. Patricia H. Born & E. Tice Sirmans, 2020. "Restrictive Rating and Adverse Selection in Health Insurance," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 87(4), pages 919-933, December.
    17. Martin Eling & Ruo Jia & Yi Yao, 2017. "Between-Group Adverse Selection: Evidence From Group Critical Illness Insurance," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 84(2), pages 771-809, June.
    18. Mark Shepard, 2016. "Hospital Network Competition and Adverse Selection: Evidence from the Massachusetts Health Insurance Exchange," NBER Working Papers 22600, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Fischer, Torben & Frölich, Markus & Landmann, Andreas, 2018. "Adverse Selection in Low-Income Health Insurance Markets: Evidence from a RCT in Pakistan," IZA Discussion Papers 11751, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Attar, Andrea & Mariotti, Thomas & Salanié, François, 2014. "Multiple Contracting in Insurance Markets," IDEI Working Papers 839, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse, revised Sep 2016.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:gpprii:v:39:y:2014:i:4:p:768-781. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.