Homeowners Insurance With Bundled Catastrophe Coverage

We estimate the demand for homeowners insurance in Florida and New York with indicated loss costs as our proxy for the quantity of real insurance services demanded. We decompose the demand into the demand for coverage of catastrophe perils and the demand for noncatastrophe coverage and estimate these demand functions separately. Our results are relatively consistent in New York and Florida, including evidence that catastrophe demand is more price elastic than noncatastrophe demand. We also find evidence that consumers value options that expand coverage, buy more insurance when it is subsidized through regulatory price constraints, and consider state guaranty fund provisions when purchasing insurance.     

The Perfect Storm: Hurricanes, Insurance, and Regulation

The intense hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 caused considerable instability in property insurance markets in coastal states with the greatest problems occurring in Florida and the Southeast. Insurers have substantially raised rates and decreased their exposures. While no severe hurricanes struck the United States in 2006 and 2007, market pressures remain strong given the high risk still facing coastal states. These developments generate considerable concern and controversy among various stakeholder groups. Government responses have varied. In Florida, political pressures prompted a wave of legislation and regulations to expand government underwriting and subsidization of hurricane risk and constrain insurers' rates and market adjustments. Other states' actions seem more moderate. In this context, it is important to understand how property insurance markets have been changing and governments have been responding to increased catastrophe risk. This article examines important market developments and evaluates associated government policies. We comment on how regulation is affecting the equilibration of insurance markets and offer opinions on policies that are helpful and harmful.     

Are Territorial Rating Models Outdated in Residential Property Insurance Markets? Evidence From the Florida Property Insurance Market

The fundamental shift in rating methodology from historical loss costs to catastrophe modeling for windstorm coverage calls into question the accuracy of rates developed using rating territories. Using premiums and modeled average annual loss (AAL) estimates from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens) in Florida, this article analyzes the use of distance to coast (DtC) as a rating variable in providing coverage for the windstorm peril in homeowners insurance. Catastrophe models used to generate AAL costs do not rely on the same application of the law of large numbers as using historical loss costs and thus allows for more granular pricing of the windstorm peril. The results show that DtC, a rating variable that is property specific, more closely aligns premiums and AALs than territorial rating, and allows more granular pricing of the windstorm peril. More granular risk based pricing provides better incentives for homeowners regarding location and mitigation choices and may help reduce aggregate exposure to windstorm damages in the long run.     

The Liquidity Demand for Corporate Property Insurance

This article suggests that liquidity may be an important reason for a corporation to purchase property insurance. A model of a risk‐neutral producer facing an endogenously determined risk of property damage under an output contract that penalizes underproduction is formulated to exemplify such a real need of liquidity. Under the output contract, the producer may purchase full unfavorable property insurance even when postloss financing is available. Surprisingly, the conclusion may still hold when the cost of postloss financing equals that of long‐term capital, provided that the rate of underproduction penalty is sufficiently high. Similar conclusions apply when postloss financing is replaced by planned internal reserve (self‐insurance) that may be invested in the short run at an interest rate that is lower than the long‐term cost of capital. When the capital market is perfect, however, the holding of planned internal reserve eliminates the purchase of actuarially unfavorable property insurance.     

政府补贴和国有参股对参与PPP企业外部融资的影响

政府补贴和国有资本参股是政府参与PPP(政府和社会资本合作)的两种主要方式。本文借助一个资本具有外部性的一般均衡模型来分析这两种方式对企业外部融资的影响机制,并进行经验验证。理论分析发现,国有参股的担保效应增加了项目公司对高杠杆的需求,提升了金融中介发放贷款的意愿,使金融中介接受更低的借款利率。政府补贴不影响项目公司与金融中介之间的借贷合约。项目公司外部融资所受影响会进一步传导至参与PPP的企业。因此,国有参股增加稳态时的企业杠杆率,降低借款利率;政府补贴则不影响杠杆率和利率。实证部分通过整合2014-2018年财政部PPP项目库数据和2010-2018年上市公司财务数据,借助PSM-DID分析发现,国有参股程度显著降低参与PPP项目的上市公司的借贷成本并提升其杠杆率,但政府补贴支出没有明显作用,印证了模型结论。此外,市场化程度更高的地区,国有参股程度对参与企业外部融资的影响程度更小。本文研究对PPP模式下如何减少政府债务风险以及控制债务风险向企业转移具有一定的参考意义。     

Catastrophe Risk Financing in the United States and the European Union: A Comparative Analysis of Alternative Regulatory Approaches

The regulation of insurance companies in the United States and the European Union (EU) continues to evolve in response to market forces and the changing nature of risk but with somewhat different philosophies and at different rates. One important area where both economic realities and markets are changing is catastrophe risk and its financing. This article examines and compares regulatory and other government policies in the United States and the EU generally and their approaches to the financing of catastrophe risk specifically. It is important to understand the fundamental differences between the two systems to gain insights into their disparate treatment of catastrophe risk financing. Although policies could be improved in both jurisdictions, we argue that the much greater reform is needed in the United States relative to the EU regulatory policies that are being developed. We offer recommendations on how U.S. policies could be significantly improved as well as comment on issues facing the EU. We conclude with some observations on the needs for further progress in the U.S. and EU regulatory systems.     

政府补助、融资结构与中小企业研发投入--基于动态面板系统GMM与门槛效应分析

采用2015—2019年中小板上市企业面板数据,实证检验政府补助对中小企业研发投入的影响,并基于融资结构视角,进一步应用动态面板门槛模型研究发现:政府补助能够显著促进企业研发投入,且由于财务冗余以及资金使用偏好等因素的存在,该影响表现出滞后性与门槛异质性特点。当内源融资水平低于或等于0.353、债权融资水平与股权融资水平分别处于20.938—30.728、-0.357—14.489区间时,补助效果最佳。据此提出完善监督机制、优化补助政策、加大资本市场改革力度等提高政府补助使用效率的相关建议。     

构建支持绿色技术创新的金融服务体系

目前,如何构建市场导向的绿色技术创新体系得到政府、市场、企业、学界等多方重视,绿色技术创新有望成为推动绿色可持续发展的新动力。但是我国面临着绿色技术创新能力不足,绿色产品和服务成本过高的问题,这将制约绿色发展的可持续性。要加快推动绿色技术创新,必须解决绿色技术企业面临的一系列融资问题,构建一个有效支持绿色技术创新的金融服务体系[1]。该体系应该包括如下特点:(1)多层次的融资和风险管理模式,包括股票市场、PE/VC、投贷联动、担保和保险机制,以解决银行不愿贷、风险资金不到位的问题;(2)政府提供一定的激励机制,包括孵化、担保、贴息等,以降低绿色技术企业的融资成本和风险溢价,缓解绿色项目的环境外部性问题;(3)提供有较长期限的资金,以满足部分绿色技术项目回报周期长的特点;(4)建立一套适合于绿色技术和绿色PE/VC基金的界定标准和环境效益评估标准,利用数字技术提升绿色评估能力,降低评估成本。基于此框架提出十条具体的政策建议。     

Public financing of the arts in England

The paper describes the method, amount and composition of public financing of the arts and heritage services in England during the 1990s. This offers the background to a discussion of how far the rationale for government financing for such services can rely on arguments derived from welfare economics. The presence of ‘market failure’ has been widely accepted by successive governments and their advisers, but attempts to remove it have encountered the familiar problems of ensuring allocative and technical efficiency when production subsidies are the main policy instrument. Special attention is devoted to the policy dilemmas that are likely to arise in the years ahead in the performing arts, heritage and broadcasting.     

CAT Bonds and Other Risk-Linked Securities: State of the Market and Recent Developments

This article reviews the current status of the market for catastrophic risk (CAT) bonds and other risk-linked securities. CAT bonds and other risk-linked securities are innovative financial vehicles that have an important role to play in financing mega-catastrophes and other types of losses. The vehicles are especially important because they access capital markets directly, exponentially expanding risk-bearing capacity beyond the limited capital held by insurers and reinsurers. The CAT bond market has been growing steadily, with record amounts of risk capital raised in 2005, 2006, and 2007. CAT bond premia relative to expected losses covered by the bonds have declined by more than one-third since 2001. CAT bonds now appear to be priced competitively with conventional catastrophe reinsurance and comparably rated corporate bonds. CAT bonds have grown to the extent that they now play a major role in completing the market for catastrophic-risk finance and are spreading to other lines such as automobile insurance, life insurance, and annuities. CAT bonds are not expected to replace reinsurance but to complement the reinsurance market by providing additional risk-bearing capacity. Other innovative financing mechanisms such as risk swaps, industry loss warranties, and sidecars also are expected to continue to play an important role in financing catastrophic risk.     

An Examination of Adverse Selection in the Public Provision of Insurance

Using a unique data set from Florida's residual property insurer, we test for adverse selection in the public provision of homeowners’ insurance in Florida. We find a significant relationship between the losses and deductible choices of insureds in Florida's residual homeowners’ insurance market. This relationship provides strong evidence of the existence of an adverse selection problem in Florida's residual property insurance market. While this relationship is important to Florida regulators (and taxpayers) specifically, a finding of an adverse selection problem in residual markets in general has implications more broadly for government providers of insurance as an adverse selection problem in these settings will impact the public policy debates and decisions involving these markets.     

Catastrophe Bonds—Regulating a Growing Asset Class

As the severity of natural catastrophes continues to intensify, disaster risk management is becoming increasingly important. In order to expand the capacity of the insurance markets, insurers and reinsurers have utilized alternative risk financing mechanisms such as catastrophe (CAT) bonds. Although the CAT bond market has increased recently, past CAT bond defaults have demonstrated that there are still concerns relating to contract documentation and the collateral structure of the bonds. This article argues that additional regulation that addresses these contracting problems and financial risks would facilitate greater use of CAT bonds. Regulatory change should also include industry‐wide accounting and tax reforms that will further support risk management objectives and the growth of the market. If the CAT bond market continues to experience the growth that was witnessed in the past year and additional regulation is implemented, insurers, reinsurers and governments can benefit from the cost‐effective protection that the instruments may provide in the event of a mega‐catastrophe.     

地方政府融资平台贷款的风险管控

近年来,地方政府融资平台贷款已经成为不容忽视的潜在金融风险,深刻影响我国的金融安全.为此,本文提出强化贷前审批、做实贷后管理、加快信贷资产证券化试点、展期平台贷款四个举措,着力加强我国地方政府融资平台贷款风险管控.     

论中小企业融资方式的改革和创新

进入新世纪以来,我国中小企业在繁荣经济、增加就业、推动创新和催生产业中发挥着越来越大的作用,已成为推动社会生产力发展和促进社会主义和谐社会建设的重要力量。但是,由于种种原因,融资难问题一直是中小企业发展的重要瓶颈之一。而建立健全政府补助机制、大力发展小额贷款公司及担保公司、发行中小企业集合债券或集合票据、加快创业板市场建设、灵活采用多种担保方式进行融资无疑是中小企业融资方式的创新之举。     

城镇职工退休人员缴纳医疗保险费的可行性及其相关问题探讨——社会保障学者专题讨论综述

2016年初有政府官员提出要建立合理分担、可持续的医保筹资机制,合理强化医保个人缴费责任,研究实行职工医保退休人员缴费政策。部分社会保障学者在微信平台上进行了"退休人员缴纳医疗保险费是否缓解医疗基金支付压力的良方"专题讨论。讨论从退休人员缴纳医保费问题的可行性开始,逐渐深入到医疗控费、公立医院改革、政府角色定位和长期护理保险等医疗领域重难点问题。     

The role of government intervention in financial development: micro‐evidence from China

This paper distinguishes between different forms of government intervention upon a firm, including the firm’s tax burden, sales to the government and state shares. We investigate how these types of government intervention affect micro‐financial development. With evidence from China, we confirm that the micro‐financial development is promoted by the firm’s tax burden and sales to the government but constrained by the firm’s state shares. The findings remain robust to the endogeneity issue. The findings offer applications for government policies or a firm’s financing strategies.     

AN ECONOMIC APPRAISAL OF SECURITIZING INSURANCE RISK VIA ONSHORE SPECIAL PURPOSE VEHICLES

ABSTRACT: The increased risk from natural disasters in the United States has prompted innovations in alternative forms of risk transfer and financing. Among the mechanisms that have been developed are Special Purpose Reinsurance Vehicles (SPRVs) designed to hold and segregate funds supporting a risk securitization. SPRVs have been principally formed outside the United States for tax and regulatory reasons. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and the states are considering proposed model legislation that will facilitate the formation of SPRVs in the United States. Proponents also will be seeking federal tax legislation that will facilitate onshore securitization. This article examines important economic and tax issues involved with onshore SPRVs. The authors conclude that properly regulated onshore securitization vehicles could aid the diversification of high-layer catastrophe risks and other risks with similar characteristics. The proposed tax changes may create a modest inequity between special purpose vehicles and traditional reinsurers, depending on one's perspective. However, if governed by an appropriate tax and regulatory framework, onshore securitization used for appropriate purposes should benefit consumers and not erode the demand for conventional reinsurance for the types of risks it is best suited to manage.     

经济适用住房货币直补改革:日照模式

加快社会保障住房建设不仅能够改善中低收入群体福利,也是我国加快城市化进程和保持经济可持续增长的重要保障。日照市经济适用住房政策通过"用地市场化、补助货币化、购房自主化、运作透明化"的货币直补改革,降低了寻租机会,缓解了保障性住房建设的融资难题,相比原有的实物补贴政策具有更高的效率,实现了帕累托改进,为当前我国保障性住房建设提供了有益的借鉴。     

The Impact of Rate Regulation on Claims: Evidence From Massachusetts Automobile Insurance

The article tests the hypothesis that insurance price subsidies created by rate regulation lead to higher insurance cost growth. The article makes use of data from the Massachusetts private passenger automobile insurance market, where cross‐subsidies were explicitly built into the rate structure through rules that limit rate differentials and differences in rate increases across driver rating categories. Two approaches are taken to study the potential loss cost reaction to the Massachusetts cross‐subsidies. The first approach compares Massachusetts with all other states while controlling for demographic, regulatory, and liability coverage levels. Loss cost levels that were about 29 percent above the expected level are found for Massachusetts during years 1978–1998, when premiums charged were those fixed by the state and included explicit subsidies for high‐risk drivers. A second approach considers changing cost levels across Massachusetts by studying loss cost changes by town and relating those changes to subsidy providers and subsidy receivers. Subsidy data based on accident year data for 1993–2004 show a significant and positive (relative) growth in loss costs and an increasing proportion of high‐risk drivers for towns that were subsidy receivers, in line with the theory of underlying incentives for adverse selection and moral hazard.