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Equilibria and efficiency in a reinsurance market

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  • Zhu, Michael B.
  • Ghossoub, Mario
  • Boonen, Tim J.

Abstract

We study equilibria in a reinsurance market with multiple reinsurers that are endowed with heterogeneous beliefs, where preferences are given by distortion risk measures, and pricing is done via Choquet integrals. We construct a model in the form of a sequential economic game, where the reinsurers have the first-mover advantage over the insurer, as in the Stackelberg setting. However, unlike the Stackelberg setting, which assumes a single monopolistic reinsurer on the supply side, our model accounts for strategic price competition between reinsurers. We argue that the notion of a Subgame Perfect Nash Equilibrium (SPNE) is the appropriate solution concept for analyzing equilibria in the reinsurance market, and we characterize SPNEs using a set of sufficient conditions. We then examine efficiency properties of the contracts induced by an SPNE, and show that these contracts result in Pareto-efficient allocations. Additionally, we show that under mild conditions, the insurer realizes a strict welfare gain, which addresses the concerns of Boonen and Ghossoub (2022) with the Stackelberg model and thereby ultimately reflects the benefit to the insurer of competition on the supply side. We illustrate this point with a numerical example.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhu, Michael B. & Ghossoub, Mario & Boonen, Tim J., 2023. "Equilibria and efficiency in a reinsurance market," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 24-49.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:insuma:v:113:y:2023:i:c:p:24-49
    DOI: 10.1016/j.insmatheco.2023.07.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Zongxia Liang & Xiaodong Luo, 2024. "Stackelberg reinsurance and premium decisions with MV criterion and irreversibility," Papers 2402.11580, arXiv.org.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Optimal reinsurance; Bowley optima; Stackelberg equilibria; Subgame perfect Nash equilibria; Pareto efficiency; Choquet pricing; Heterogeneous beliefs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C02 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - Mathematical Economics
    • C62 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Existence and Stability Conditions of Equilibrium
    • C79 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Other
    • D86 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Economics of Contract Law
    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies

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