IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/roswps/58.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The quality of insurance intermediary services: An analysis of conduct and performance in the German market of insurance intermediation

Author

Listed:
  • Eckardt, Martina

Abstract

Based on a sample of 946 German insurance intermediaries, the factors that affect the quality of the information services provided by them are studied using OLS-estimations. Applying a search theoretical approach, we analyze the impact of supply and demand side variables on service quality. Besides, the working of signaling devices (like reputation, advertising or certificates) to reduce asymmetric information with respect to the service quality of insurance intermediaries is examined. The results obtained support the main hypotheses derived from industrial organization theories as to the poor working of quality competition under incomplete and asymmetric information on the side of consumers. Thus, public policy should concentrate on increasing transparency about intermediaries' (in-)dependence from insurance companies and improve consumers' financial literacy to raise the overall quality of the information services provided by insurance intermediaries.

Suggested Citation

  • Eckardt, Martina, 2006. "The quality of insurance intermediary services: An analysis of conduct and performance in the German market of insurance intermediation," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 58, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:roswps:58
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/39783/1/610195743.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), 1989. "Handbook of Industrial Organization," Handbook of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1, May.
    2. Perry, Martin K., 1989. "Vertical integration: Determinants and effects," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 183-255, Elsevier.
    3. John G. Riley, 2001. "Silver Signals: Twenty-Five Years of Screening and Signaling," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 432-478, June.
    4. R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), 1989. "Handbook of Industrial Organization," Handbook of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 2, number 2, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Gert Brunekreeft & David Newbery, 2006. "Should merchant transmission investment be subject to a must-offer provision?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 233-260, November.
    2. Rodríguez-López, Nuria & Diz-Comesaña, María Eva, 2016. "Efeito mediador do controle formal e informal na forma de governo," RAE - Revista de Administração de Empresas, FGV-EAESP Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (Brazil), vol. 56(6), November.
    3. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2005. "From sectoral to functional urban specialisation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 343-370, March.
    4. Didier Laussel & Ngo Van Long, 2012. "Vertical Disintegration: A Dynamic Markovian Approach," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 745-771, September.
    5. Lars-Hendrik Röller & Johan Stennek & Frank Verboven, 2006. "Efficiency Gains from Mergers," Chapters, in: Fabienne IIzkovitz & Roderick Meiklejohn (ed.), European Merger Control, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Höffler, Felix & Kranz, Sebastian, 2011. "Legal unbundling can be a golden mean between vertical integration and ownership separation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 576-588, September.
    7. Sanjib Bhuyan, 2002. "Impact of Vertical Mergers on Industry Profitability: An Empirical Evaluation," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 20(1), pages 61-79, February.
    8. Chien-Ming Chen, 2017. "Supply Chain Strategies and Carbon Intensity: The Roles of Process Leanness, Diversification Strategy, and Outsourcing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 603-620, July.
    9. Newbery, David & Affuso, Luisa, 2000. "Investment, Reprocurement and Franchise Contract Length in the British Railway Industry," CEPR Discussion Papers 2619, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Fabio Pieri, 2018. "Vertical organization of production and firm growth," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(1), pages 83-106.
    11. Raymond Board & Peter A. Tinsley, 1996. "Smart systems and simple agents: industry pricing by parallel rules," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1996-50, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    12. Spencer, Barbara J & Qiu, Larry D, 2001. "Keiretsu and Relationship-Specific Investment: A Barrier to Trade?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 42(4), pages 871-901, November.
    13. Inés Macho‐Stadler & Noriaki Matsushima & Ryusuke Shinohara, 2021. "Organizational Structure and Technological Investment," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(4), pages 785-816, December.
    14. Fiocco Raffaele, 2013. "The Optimal Institutional Design of Vertically Related Markets with Unknown Upstream Costs," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 183-210, June.
    15. Lambertini, Luca, 2010. "Make vs buy in a monopoly with demand or cost uncertainty," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 101-109, June.
    16. Rajeev K. Goel & Ummad Mazhar & James W. Saunoris, 2021. "Identifying the corrupt cog in the wheel: Dimensions of supply chain logistics and cross‐country corruption," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 693-709, December.
    17. Douglas West, 2000. "Double Marginalization and Privatization in Liquor Retailing," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 16(4), pages 399-415, June.
    18. Jackie Krafft, 2003. "Vertical structure of the industry and competition: an analysis of the info-communications industry," Post-Print hal-00203652, HAL.
    19. Zava Aydemir & Stefan Buehler, 2002. "Estimating Vertical Foreclosure in U.S. Gasoline Supply," SOI - Working Papers 0212, Socioeconomic Institute - University of Zurich.
    20. Jaideep Shenoy, 2012. "An Examination of the Efficiency, Foreclosure, and Collusion Rationales for Vertical Takeovers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(8), pages 1482-1501, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Performance of Insurance Distribution Systems; Information Quality;

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:roswps:58. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ivrosde.html .

    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.