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Christian Biener
Title
Prof. Dr.
Last Name
Biener
First name
Christian
Email
christian.biener@unisg.ch
ORCID
Phone
+41 71 224 7981
Homepage
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1 - 3 of 3
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PublicationInsurability in Microinsurance Markets: An Analysis of Problems and Potential SolutionsThis paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the insurability of risks in microinsurance markets. Our aim is to enhance the understanding of impediments to and facilitators of microinsurance from an economic perspective and outline potential solutions. The motivation for conducting this analysis arises from two important aspects. (1) Despite strong growth of microinsurance markets in recent years, more than 90 per cent of the poor population in developing countries have limited or no access to insurance. (2) Industry practitioners frequently highlight problems in the insurability of risks that hinder the development of microinsurance. We review 131 papers and find that the most severe problems stem from insufficient resources for risk evaluation, small size of insurance groups, information asymmetries and the size of the insurance premium. On the basis of the analysis, we discuss a number of potential solutions such as, for example, a cooperative microinsurance architecture.Type: journal articleJournal: Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance: Issues and PracticeVolume: 37Issue: 1DOI: 10.1057/gpp.2011.29
Scopus© Citations 45 -
PublicationOrganization and Efficiency in the International Insurance Industry: A Cross-frontier AnalysisThis paper employs cross-frontier analysis, an innovative tool based on data envelopment analysis, to provide new insight into the relationship between organization and efficiency in international insurance markets. We are the first to empirically test the expense preference hypothesis and the efficient structure hypothesis in a large cross-country study. For this purpose, we consider 23,807 firm years for 21 countries from northern America and the European Union-a dataset not previously analyzed in this context. We find evidence for the efficient structure hypothesis in selected market segments, but we find no evidence for the expense preference hypothesis. Our results provide insight into the competitiveness of stock and mutual insurers from different countries. At the country level, the results can be used to compare different insurance markets. Our findings are especially interesting for the strategic management of insurance companies as well as for regulators and boards of national insurance associations.Type: journal articleJournal: European Journal of Operational ResearchVolume: 221Issue: 2
Scopus© Citations 42 -
PublicationThe Performance of Microinsurance Programs: A Data Envelopment AnalysisThe purpose of this research is to measure the performance of microinsurance programs using data envelopment analysis and to derive implications for the viable provision of microinsurance products. This is a worthwhile exercise given the significant limitations of the existing performance measures used in the microinsurance industry. A single and simple to interpret performance measure can overcome these limitations and provide a sophisticated tool for performance measurement within a multidimensional framework. Moreover, this technique can incorporate the important social function that microinsurers fulfill and provide powerful managerial implications. We illustrate the capabilities of data envelopment analysis using a sample of 20 microinsurance programs and recent innovations from the efficiency literature, such as the bootstrapping of efficiency scores and a truncated regression analysis of efficiency determinants.Type: journal articleJournal: Journal of Risk and InsuranceVolume: 78Issue: 1
Scopus© Citations 49