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LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY RISK EXPOSURE: MARKET EVIDENCE AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
Author(s) -
III ELIJAH BREWER,
MONDSCHEAN THOMAS H.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
contemporary economic policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.454
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1465-7287
pISSN - 1074-3529
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-7287.1993.tb00401.x
Subject(s) - business , leverage (statistics) , life insurance , loan , incentive , actuarial science , finance , economics , machine learning , computer science , microeconomics
Life insurance company (LIC) risk exposure increased during the 1980s while capital ratios declined. State guarantee funds that exist to handle policyholder's losses in the event of LIC failure can create incentives for excessive risk taking, just as the federal deposit insurance system did for savings and loan associations. This paper examines the relationship between stock market risk and LIC risk exposure. A sample of 44 LICs revealed that stock market risk is positively related to financial leverage as well as to differences in asset mix. This finding confirms that market data can help identify LICs with greater risk exposure .