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Risk Aversion and Insurance Propensity

Author

Listed:
  • Fabio Maccheroni
  • Massimo Marinacci
  • Ruodu Wang
  • Qinyu Wu

Abstract

We provide a new foundation of risk aversion by showing that the propension to exploit insurance opportunities fully describes this attitude. Our foundation, which applies to any probabilistically sophisticated preference, well accords with the commonly held prudential interpretation of risk aversion that dates back to the seminal works of Arrow (1963) and Pratt (1964). In our main results, we first characterize the Arrow-Pratt risk aversion in terms of propension to full insurance and the stronger notion of risk aversion of Rothschild and Stiglitz (1970) in terms of propension to partial insurance. We then extend the analysis to comparative risk aversion by showing that the notion of Yaari (1969) corresponds to comparative propension to full insurance, while the stronger notion of Ross (1981) corresponds to comparative propension to partial insurance.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabio Maccheroni & Massimo Marinacci & Ruodu Wang & Qinyu Wu, 2023. "Risk Aversion and Insurance Propensity," Papers 2310.09173, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2310.09173
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Ross, Stephen A, 1981. "Some Stronger Measures of Risk Aversion in the Small and the Large with Applications," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(3), pages 621-638, May.
    8. Machina, Mark J & Schmeidler, David, 1992. "A More Robust Definition of Subjective Probability," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(4), pages 745-780, July.
    9. Yaari, Menahem E., 1969. "Some remarks on measures of risk aversion and on their uses," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 315-329, October.
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