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Business and Economics > Insurance

You are looking at 1 - 3 of 3 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Demographic Economics: General x
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Cover IMF Working Papers
Irrational Exuberance in the U.S. Housing Market: Were Evangelicals Left Behind?
Mr. Christopher W. Crowe
The recent housing bust has reignited interest in psychological theories of speculative excess (Shiller, 2007). I investigate this issue by identifying a segment of the U.S. population-evangelical protestants-that may be less prone to speculative motives, and uncover a significant negative relationship between their population share and house price volatility. Evangelicals' focus on Biblical prophecy could account for this difference, since it may enable them to interpret otherwise negative events as containing positive news, dampening the response of house prices to shocks. I provide evidence for this channel using a popular internet measure of "prophetic activity" and a 9/11 event study. I also analyze survey data covering religious beliefs and asset holding, and find that 'end times' beliefs are associated with a one-third decline in net worth, consistent with these beliefs providing a form of psychic insurance (Scheve and Stasavage, 2006a and 2006b) that reduces asset demand.
Keywords:
WP; standard deviation; house prices; economics of Religion; asset price cycles; share of evangelical; dependent variable; growth series; price appreciation; population share; price volatility; evangelical area; Housing prices; Housing; Asset bubbles; Insurance; Middle East; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Macroeconomic Implications of Natural Disasters in the Caribbean
Mr. Tobias N. Rasmussen
Each year natural disasters affect about 200 million people and cause about $50 billion in damage. This paper compares the incidence of natural disasters across countries along several dimensions and finds that the relative costs tend to be far higher in developing countries than in advanced economies. The analysis shows that small island states are especially vulnerable, with the countries of the Eastern Caribbean standing out as among the most disaster-prone in the world. Natural disasters are found to have had a discernible macroeconomic impact, including large effects on fiscal and external balances, pointing to an important role for precautionary measures.
Keywords:
WP; ECCU country; country; GDP; government; market; price; Natural Disasters; Eastern Caribbean; Developing Countries; ECCU insurance market; countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union; island state; market insurance; Insurance; Personal income; Fiscal stance; Caribbean; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Achy But Healthy: Lessons From the Israeli Health Sector
Yaakov Kop
Health policy has been for some time high on the agenda of many countries--and where it has not, it should be. Since no ideal model of health services has ever been devised 9 one may look for favorable elements in the health sector of a given country and examine their applicability to other countries. This paper analyzes Israel’s health sector in this context.
Keywords:
WP; health sector; health expenditure; life expectancy; health status; financial support; country figure; Health care; Health care spending; Insurance; Western Europe