Institute of Insurance Science

Insurance Economics (Versicherungsökonomik)

Contact

Lecturer

Prof. Dr. An Chen

Dr. Shihao Zhu

Exercises

Mingyu Liu

Dates

Monday, 8:00 - 12:00 [HeHo18, 220]

General Info

The course will be taught in English.

The German title of this course is "Versicherungsökonomik".

Further information and all course materials are available on Moodle.

Course Content

This course provides an introduction to insurance economics.

Topics addressed include:

  • Basics of insurance economics
  • Choice under uncertainty (expected utility theory and rational decision under risk, measures of risk aversion, mean-variance preferences)
  • Insurance demand by households (basic model, insurance demand with non-fair premiums, Pareto-optimal insurance contract)
  • Insurance demand by firms (risk management and diversification, risk management using forward, future and options, corporate demand for insurance)
  • Insurance supply (traditional premium calculation, financial modeling of insurance pricing, economies of scope, economies of scale)
  • Microeconomic analysis (moral hazard, adverse selection)
  • Insurance regulation

Requirements

The lecture is designed for Bachelor and Master students of "Economathematics", "Mathematics", "Economics" or "Finance" who are at an advanced stage of their studies.

Exam

See Moodle.

DAV Certificate

Within this lecture it is possible to obtain the certificate of the German Actuarial Society (Deutsche Aktuar Vereinigung, DAV) in "Wirtschaftliches und rechtliches Umfeld" (PO 4). 

This certificate is one of the basic requirements for becoming an actuary in Germany.

See Moodle, for the requirements for obtaining the DAV certificate and for further information on the DAV supplement course and exam.

Literature

  • The main textbook
    • Zweifel, P. and R. Eisen (2012), Insurance Economics, Springer.
  • Further reading
    • Farny, D. (2006), Versicherungsbetriebslehre, 4. u. überarbeitete Auflage, Karlsruhe: Verlag Versicherungswirtschaft.
    • Felderer, B. und S. Homburg (2005), Makroökonomik und neue Makroökonomik, 9. Auflage, Berlin: Springer.
    • Schulenburg, J.-M. (2005), Versicherungsökonomik, ein Leitfaden für Studium und Praxis, Karlsruhe: Verlag Versicherungswirtschaft.
    • Vaughan, J. E. and T. Vaughan (2003), Fundamentals of Risk and Insurance, 9. Edition, Wileys & Sons.
    • Zweifel, P. und R. Eisen (2003), Versicherungsökonomie, 2. u. verbesserte Auflage - Berlin et al: Springer.