IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jrinsu/v91y2024i2p449-488.html

Pareto‐efficient risk sharing in centralized insurance markets with application to flood risk

Author

Listed:
  • Tim J. Boonen
  • Wing Fung Chong
  • Mario Ghossoub

Abstract

Centralized insurance can be found in both the private and public sectors. This paper provides a microeconomic study of the risk‐sharing mechanisms in these markets, where multiple policyholders interact with a centralized monopolistic insurer. With minimal assumptions on the risk preferences of the market participants, we characterize Pareto optimality in terms of the agents' risk positions and their assessment of the likelihoods associated with their loss tail events. We relate Pareto efficiency in this market to a naturally associated cooperative game. Based on our theoretical results, we then consider a model of flood insurance coverage via an illustrative example. The lessons drawn from our theoretical results and this example lead to important policy implications for the existing National Flood Insurance Program in the United States.

Suggested Citation

  • Tim J. Boonen & Wing Fung Chong & Mario Ghossoub, 2024. "Pareto‐efficient risk sharing in centralized insurance markets with application to flood risk," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 91(2), pages 449-488, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jrinsu:v:91:y:2024:i:2:p:449-488
    DOI: 10.1111/jori.12468
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jori.12468
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jori.12468?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin J. Osborne & Ariel Rubinstein, 1994. "A Course in Game Theory," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262650401, December.
    2. Ermoliev, Yuri M. & Ermolieva, Tatiana Y. & MacDonald, Gordon J. & Norkin, Vladimir I. & Amendola, Aniello, 2000. "A system approach to management of catastrophic risks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 452-460, April.
    3. Manuel Guerra & Alexandra B. Moura, 2020. "Reinsurance of multiple risks with generic dependence structures," Papers 2009.12274, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2021.
    4. Cai, Jun & Wei, Wei, 2012. "Optimal reinsurance with positively dependent risks," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 57-63.
    5. Yaari, Menahem E, 1987. "The Dual Theory of Choice under Risk," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(1), pages 95-115, January.
    6. Guerra, M. & de Moura, A.B., 2021. "Reinsurance of multiple risks with generic dependence structures," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(PB), pages 547-571.
    7. Denuit, Michel & Dhaene, Jan, 2012. "Convex order and comonotonic conditional mean risk sharing," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 265-270.
    8. Benjamin L. Collier & Marc A. Ragin, 2020. "The Influence of Sellers on Contract Choice: Evidence from Flood Insurance," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 87(2), pages 523-557, June.
    9. Asimit, Vali & Boonen, Tim J., 2018. "Insurance with multiple insurers: A game-theoretic approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 267(2), pages 778-790.
    10. Alexander J. McNeil & Rüdiger Frey & Paul Embrechts, 2015. "Quantitative Risk Management: Concepts, Techniques and Tools Revised edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 2, number 10496, December.
    11. K. C. Cheung & K. C. J. Sung & S. C. P. Yam, 2014. "Risk-Minimizing Reinsurance Protection For Multivariate Risks," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 81(1), pages 219-236, March.
    12. Ghossoub, Mario & Zhu, Michael B., 2024. "Stackelberg equilibria with multiple policyholders," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 189-201.
    13. Asimit, Alexandru V. & Boonen, Tim J. & Chi, Yichun & Chong, Wing Fung, 2021. "Risk sharing with multiple indemnity environments," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 295(2), pages 587-603.
    14. Michel Denuit & Jan Dhaene & Christian Y. Robert, 2022. "Risk‐sharing rules and their properties, with applications to peer‐to‐peer insurance," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 89(3), pages 615-667, September.
    15. Denuit, Michel & Dhaene, Jan & Ghossoub, Mario & Robert, Christian Y., 2025. "Comonotonicity and Pareto optimality, with application to collaborative insurance," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 1-16.
    16. Wang, Shaun S. & Young, Virginia R. & Panjer, Harry H., 1997. "Axiomatic characterization of insurance prices," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 173-183, November.
    17. Philippe Artzner & Freddy Delbaen & Jean‐Marc Eber & David Heath, 1999. "Coherent Measures of Risk," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 203-228, July.
    18. Sebastian Hinck, 2024. "Optimal insurance contract design with government disaster relief," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 91(2), pages 415-447, June.
    19. Benjamin L. Collier & Daniel Schwartz & Howard C. Kunreuther & Erwann O. Michel‐Kerjan, 2022. "Insuring large stakes: A normative and descriptive analysis of households' flood insurance coverage," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 89(2), pages 273-310, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tim J. Boonen & Kenneth Tsz Hin Ng & Tak Wa Ng & Thai Nguyen, 2026. "Pareto and Bowley Reinsurance Games in Peer-to-Peer Insurance," Papers 2602.14223, arXiv.org.
    2. Minh Chau Nguyen & Tony S. Wirjanto & Fan Yang, 2025. "Asymptotic Analysis of Optimal Diversification in Catastrophe Risk Pooling," Papers 2512.18790, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2026.
    3. Miwaka Yamashita, 2025. "Risk Measure Examination for Large Losses," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-15, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mario Ghossoub & Michael B. Zhu & Wing Fung Chong, 2024. "Pareto-Optimal Peer-to-Peer Risk Sharing with Robust Distortion Risk Measures," Papers 2409.05103, arXiv.org.
    2. Acciaio, Beatrice & Albrecher, Hansjörg & Flores, Brandon García, 2025. "Optimal reinsurance from an optimal transport perspective," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 194-213.
    3. Ghossoub, Mario & Zhu, Michael B., 2024. "Stackelberg equilibria with multiple policyholders," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 189-201.
    4. Liu, Fangda & Cai, Jun & Lemieux, Christiane & Wang, Ruodu, 2020. "Convex risk functionals: Representation and applications," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 66-79.
    5. Anand Deo, 2025. "EVT-Based Rate-Preserving Distributional Robustness for Tail Risk Functionals," Papers 2506.16230, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2026.
    6. Silvana Pesenti & Qiuqi Wang & Ruodu Wang, 2020. "Optimizing distortion riskmetrics with distributional uncertainty," Papers 2011.04889, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2022.
    7. Boonen, Tim J. & Jiang, Wenjun, 2025. "Pareto-optimal insurance under robust distortion risk measures," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 324(2), pages 690-705.
    8. Tim J. Boonen & Kenneth Tsz Hin Ng & Tak Wa Ng & Thai Nguyen, 2026. "Pareto and Bowley Reinsurance Games in Peer-to-Peer Insurance," Papers 2602.14223, arXiv.org.
    9. Boonen, Tim J. & Jiang, Wenjun, 2022. "A marginal indemnity function approach to optimal reinsurance under the Vajda condition," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 303(2), pages 928-944.
    10. Fadina, Tolulope & Hu, Junlei & Liu, Peng & Xia, Yi, 2025. "Optimal reinsurance with multivariate risks and dependence uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 321(1), pages 231-242.
    11. Peng Liu & Andreas Tsanakas & Yunran Wei, 2024. "Risk sharing with Lambda value at risk under heterogeneous beliefs," Papers 2408.03147, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2025.
    12. Samuel Solgon Santos & Marcelo Brutti Righi & Eduardo de Oliveira Horta, 2022. "The limitations of comonotonic additive risk measures: a literature review," Papers 2212.13864, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2024.
    13. Tim J. Boonen & Fangda Liu & Ruodu Wang, 2021. "Competitive equilibria in a comonotone market," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 72(4), pages 1217-1255, November.
    14. Embrechts Paul & Wang Ruodu, 2015. "Seven Proofs for the Subadditivity of Expected Shortfall," Dependence Modeling, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-15, October.
    15. Boonen, Tim J. & Jiang, Wenjun, 2024. "Robust insurance design with distortion risk measures," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 316(2), pages 694-706.
    16. Andreas H Hamel, 2018. "Monetary Measures of Risk," Papers 1812.04354, arXiv.org.
    17. 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.
    18. Felix-Benedikt Liebrich & Ruodu Wang, 2025. "Eliciting reference measures of law-invariant functionals," Papers 2507.13763, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2026.
    19. Dilip B. Madan, 2016. "Conic Portfolio Theory," International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Finance (IJTAF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(03), pages 1-42, May.
    20. Blier-Wong, Christopher & Cossette, Hélène & Marceau, Etienne, 2023. "Risk aggregation with FGM copulas," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 102-120.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jrinsu:v:91:y:2024:i:2:p:449-488. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ariaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.