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Optimal insurance with belief heterogeneity and incentive compatibility

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  • Chi, Yichun
  • Zhuang, Sheng Chao

Abstract

People may evaluate risk differently in the insurance market. Motivated by this, we examine an optimal insurance problem allowing the insured and the insurer to have heterogeneous beliefs about loss distribution. To reduce ex post moral hazard, we follow Huberman et al. (1983) to assume that alternative insurance contracts satisfy the principle of indemnity and the incentive-compatible constraint. Under the assumption that the insurance premium is calculated by the expected value principle, we establish a necessary and sufficient condition for an optimal insurance solution and provide a practical scheme to improve any suboptimal insurance strategy under an arbitrary form of belief heterogeneity. By virtue of this condition, we explore qualitative properties of optimal solutions, and derive optimal insurance contracts explicitly for some interesting forms of belief heterogeneity. As a byproduct of this investigation, we find that Theorem 3.6 of Young (1999) is not completely true.

Suggested Citation

  • Chi, Yichun & Zhuang, Sheng Chao, 2020. "Optimal insurance with belief heterogeneity and incentive compatibility," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 104-114.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:insuma:v:92:y:2020:i:c:p:104-114
    DOI: 10.1016/j.insmatheco.2020.03.006
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Boonen, Tim J. & Jiang, Wenjun, 2022. "Bilateral risk sharing in a comonotone market with rank-dependent utilities," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 361-378.
    2. Jiang, Wenjun & Hong, Hanping & Ren, Jiandong, 2021. "Pareto-optimal reinsurance policies with maximal synergy," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 185-198.
    3. Yichun Chi & Zuo Quan Xu & Sheng Chao Zhuang, 2022. "Distributionally Robust Goal-Reaching Optimization in the Presence of Background Risk," North American Actuarial Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3), pages 351-382, August.
    4. Xiaoqing Liang & Ruodu Wang & Virginia Young, 2021. "Optimal Insurance to Maximize RDEU Under a Distortion-Deviation Premium Principle," Papers 2107.02656, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2022.
    5. Liang, Xiaoqing & Jiang, Wenjun & Zhang, Yiying, 2023. "Optimal insurance design under mean-variance preference with narrow framing," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 59-79.
    6. Zhuo Jin & Zuo Quan Xu & Bin Zou, 2023. "Optimal moral-hazard-free reinsurance under extended distortion premium principles," Papers 2304.08819, arXiv.org.
    7. Ghossoub, Mario & Jiang, Wenjun & Ren, Jiandong, 2022. "Pareto-optimal reinsurance under individual risk constraints," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 307-325.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Belief heterogeneity; Incentive compatibility; Monotone likelihood ratio order; Optimal insurance design; Partial insurance over a layer;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C02 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - Mathematical Economics
    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies

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