Clearing the Decks

We've had a busy fall so far here at Riskprof.  A number of papers and studies have come out on topics of interest.  Posting will resume shortly, but I thought I'd provide some links to the things we have done most recently.  We have mix of selections sure to please the academic, the policy wonk, and the geek in us all.

• Grace on some insurance aspects of the California wildfires (On Marketplace 10/23).  Hear the Riskprof.  Is that really what my voice sounds like?
• Grace and Robert W. Klein on an Optional Federal Charter for the Insurance Industry.  I will post it on SSRN asap, but for now there is a link here.  This project was funded with a grant from the American Council on Life Insurers who favor an optional federal chartering plan.  We speak only for ourselves and not necessarily for the ACLI.
• Grace and Andreas Milidonis on Tax Deferred Catastrophe Reserves forthcoming in the ASTIN Bulletin at SSRN.  This is not like the recent proposal touted by the NY Insurance Superintendent which no one likes.  Our analysis is on a tax deductible reserve that I think everyone likes (except the U.S. Treasury).
• Grace and Richard Phillips on Regulator Performance in the Journal of Banking and Finance forthcoming [ungated at SSRN].  [We test whether the past or future labor market choices of insurance commissioners provides
  incentives for those in states with significant price regulation to favor or oppose the industry by allowing prices that differ significantly from what would otherwise be the competitive market outcome.  So is there a revolving door?  Read and find out.]
• Grace and Robert W. Klein on Facing Mother Nature in Regulation.  A pithy discussion of why Florida insurance regulation and markets are "messed-up."  [N.B. I think "messed-up" is now a proper technical term for the situation in Florida.]
• Lars Powell on the Assault on the McCarran-Ferguson Act and the Politics of Insurance Post-Katrina for the National Association of Mutual Insurance  Companies. The title tells it all!
• Ty Leverty, Yijia Lin &  Hao Zhou, WTO and the Chinese Insurance Industry at SSRN.  Membership in the WTO didn't seem to impact the impressive productivity gains made by the Chinese industry over years 1999-2004.