Vickie L. Bajtelsmit

Gender differences in defined contribution pension decisions

Abstract This paper considers gender differences in allocation of household wealth to defined contribution pensions. Using data from the 1989 Survey of Consumer Finances , we estimate the coefficient of relative risk aversion based on the allocation of wealth into defined contribution pensions. Unlike previous studies, we consider the problem in the context of the household’s overall portfolio. We find that women exhibit greater relative risk aversion in their allocation of wealth into defined contribution pension assets.

Negligence, Ignorance and the Demand for Liability Insurance

This paper considers whether lack of information regarding risk exposures can lead to a demand for negligence liability insurance. We find that, under the uniform negligence rule, any demand for liability insurance must come from informed individuals. The group whose privately optimal level of care is below the negligence standard may find it less costly to be negligent and purchase insurance. Under the individualized negligence rule, the demand for insurance, if any, comes from rationally ignorant individuals, and the information disclosure environment is a critical determinant of whether there is a demand for liability insurance or not.

The Reasonable Person Negligence Standard and Liability Insurance

We show that, under the reasonable person negligence rule, heterogeneity of potential injurers can be sufficient to create a demand for liability insurance. Potential injurers with a low probability of accidents or a high cost of exercising care have optimal levels of care that are below the negligence standard. For these groups, it may be less costly to be negligent and purchase insurance than to comply with the negligence standard. We show that the availability of insurance is socially desirable.

The Combined Effect of Enterprise Risk Management and Diversification on Property and Casualty Insurer Performance

In a well‐designed enterprise risk management (ERM) program, the firm integrates risk management into the strategic planning process, addressing strategic, financial, operational, and hazard risks under a single overarching process. This is particularly important to large financial firms, such as property and casualty (P&C) insurers, which face a diverse set of risks. Using a sample of P&C insurers with S&P ERM quality ratings from 2006 to 2013, we find that the quality of a firms ERM is a significant determinant of P&C insurer performance and that, for firms with high‐quality ERM programs, product line diversification has a significant positive effect on performance.

Life Insurer Cost of Equity with Asymmetric Risk Factors

This study presents an improved model for estimating life insurer cost of capital with the inclusion of upside and downside risk factors and controlling for life insurer characteristics. Although various asymmetric measures of market risk have been shown to be priced factors for the broader equity market, life insurer realized equity returns include a much larger premium for bearing downside risk, even after controlling for firm characteristics and other measures of risk. Cross-sectional regression analysis finds a positive (negative) premium for downside (upside) betas, conditional on down and up markets, respectively. Coskewness and cokurtosis are also priced factors.

Enterprise Risk Management and Diversification Effects for Property and Casualty Insurance Companies

In a well-designed enterprise risk management (ERM) program, the firm integrates risk management into the strategic planning process, addressing strategic risk, financial risk, operational risk, and hazard risk under a single overarching process. This is particularly important to large financial firms, such as property and casualty (P&C) insurers, which face a diverse set of risks. We find that ERM quality, as measured by S&P ERM ratings from 2006-2012, has a strong positive affect on ROA and Tobin’s Q for P&C insurers. In contrast to previous studies that have found that diversified firms suffer a value discount relative to their more focused peers, the results of this study suggest that, after controlling for ERM quality, business line diversification is associated with a performance premium whereas geographic diversification is not a significant factor.