Open AccessEFFICIENCY OF NON-LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES AND ITS DETERMINANTS
Author(s) -
Sylwester Kozak
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
acta scientiarum polonorum. oeconomia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2450-047X
pISSN - 1644-0757
DOI - 10.22630/aspe.2018.17.4.55
Subject(s) - tobit model , profitability index , panel data , cost efficiency , life insurance , volatility (finance) , business , stochastic frontier analysis , wage , random effects model , economics , econometrics , actuarial science , labour economics , finance , microeconomics , production (economics) , medicine , meta analysis , computer science , operating system
The research evaluates efficiency of non-life insurance companies in Poland from 2002 till 2016 and determines factors affecting it. The stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) method was applied for estimating cost efficiency of 29 insurance companies and the panel data Tobit model for identification of the efficiency determinants. The results of the research showed significant volatility of companies’ efficiency scores changing from 62.5% in 2002 to 65.8% in 2007 and 59.4% in 2016. Efficiency of most companies was low and the average for the sector was driven by a small group of the most efficient entities. The efficiency was positively impacted by the value of company’s gross written premium and acquisition costs, an increase in the profitability and the average wage in the non-life insurance sector and a decrease in the sector’s concentration. Companies operated more efficiently in the environment of declining rates of the economic growth and inflation. These relationships were relevant for the entire sector, as well as for groups of companies characterized with higher and lower efficiency.