Beyond Testing: Empirical Models of Insurance Markets

• Main Authors: Einav, Liran (Author), Finkelstein, Amy (Contributor), Levin, Jonathan (Author)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Annual Reviews, 2012-08-08T19:33:57Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

First published online as a Review in Advance on March 8, 2010
We describe recent advances in the empirical analysis of insurance markets. This new research proposes ways to estimate individual demand for insurance and the relationship between prices and insurer costs in the presence of adverse and advantageous selection. We discuss how these models permit the measurement of welfare distortions arising from asymmetric information and the welfare consequences of potential government policy responses. We also discuss some challenges in modeling imperfect competition between insurers and outline a series of open research questions.
National Institute on Aging (R01 AG032449)
National Science Foundation (U.S.) (SES-0643037)
National Science Foundation (U.S.) (SES-0349278)
Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research