Gain a fundamental understanding of insurance economics

Insurance has grown in importance to become a central theme in modern finance and economics, providing not only practical examples to illustrate new theories, but also inspiring new ideas of relevance for the general economy.

Today, higher-order risk attitudes play a central role in understanding how decisions are made by consumers and managers. This module will provide you with a thorough understanding of insurance activities, including the integration of risk and insurance theory and practice into the mainstream economic theory.

You will examine optimal decision-making within an insurance context. In particular, you will explore optimal insurance contract design under information asymmetry and moral hazard, and contemporary developments such as the economic analysis of insurance fraud.

How do you design an optimal insurance contract to minimize moral hazard, and reduce or eliminate adverse selection? What is the optimal demand for insurance from an individual or company perspective and for reinsurance from an insurance company perspective? This module will give you the tools to answer these, and further questions from an insurance practitioner’s perspective.

The topics you’ll cover in this module include:

• The insurance device, types of insurers and distribution systems
• Technical and financial operations of insurers
• Legal principles in insurance and insurance regulation
• Behavioural insurance and the theory of insurance demand
• Analysis and optimal design of insurance contracts
• Life insurance, annuities and pension benefits and related contractual provisions
• Health insurance, long-term care insurance, critical illness and disability insurance
• Personal property and liability insurance
• Commercial property and liability insurance
• Reinsurance
• Social insurance
• Takaful - Islamic insurance
• Insurance fraud and other contemporary challenges

Module Leader

The Insurance Industry module is led by Rosie Chopra:

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