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Selection and Redistribution in the Irish Tontines of 1773, 1775, and 1777

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  • Yikang Li
  • Casey Rothschild

Abstract

We construct and analyze a new data set on the mortality experience of the nominees of the 1773, 1775, and 1777 Irish tontines. The active participation of Genevan speculators in these Irish tontines has been well documented. We use our new data to quantify both the extent to which these nominees were longer‐lived and the financial consequences of their enhanced longevity. The Genevan nominees were indeed notably longer‐lived than non‐Genevan nominees—particularly so for the 50 nominees selected by a Genevan investment syndicate. Their enhanced longevity had only trivial financial consequences for the issuer, but it led to significant redistribution from non‐Genevan to Genevan investors. We highlight the implications of this across‐group distributional risk for modern proposals to introduce tontine‐like elements into modern retirement pensions.

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  • Yikang Li & Casey Rothschild, 2020. "Selection and Redistribution in the Irish Tontines of 1773, 1775, and 1777," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 87(3), pages 719-750, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jrinsu:v:87:y:2020:i:3:p:719-750
    DOI: 10.1111/jori.12274
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    Cited by:

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    3. Moshe A. Milevsky & Thomas S. Salisbury, 2025. "The Riccati tontine: how to satisfy regulators on average," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 50(1), pages 72-102, March.
    4. An Chen & Alexander Muermann & Casey Rothschild, 2025. "Tontines and their modern (re)discovery," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 50(1), pages 1-5, March.
    5. Denuit, Michel & Robert, Christian Y., 2023. "Endowment contingency funds for mutual aid and public financing," LIDAM Discussion Papers ISBA 2023009, Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences (ISBA).

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