Information, Entry, and Regulation in Markets for Life Insurance

Download or read book Information, Entry, and Regulation in Markets for Life Insurance written by G. Frank Mathewson and published by Published for the Ontario Economic Council by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 1982 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the back cover: In this penetrating analysis, Professor Mathewson probes four pertinent questions relating to markets for life insurance. He explains the observed variability in the price of alternative life insurance policies by developing a model of consumer choice in life insurance and tests the implications of this model for price levels and price variability. He tests for the presence of natural monopoly elements in the industry, explaining the diversity in the size of life insurance firms and the potential economic advantage of large firms over small. He develops a theory of the role of agents to determine whether there is excessive sales effort in the marketing of insurance. Finally, he contends that there is scope for an expanded government policy on life insurance aside from solvency regulation, and advocates a publicly subsidized information policy to aid consumers in their decisions.