| 1. |
- Abdul Kader, Hale, et al.
(author)
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The determinants of reinsurance in the Swedish property fire insurance market during the interwar years, 1919–39
- 2010
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In: Business History. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 52:2, s. 268-284
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Drawing a framework from agency theory, we use a panel data design to examine the factors motivating the level of demand for reinsurance in the rapidly developing Swedish property fire insurance market during the interwar period 1919–39. We find that as hypothesised, reinsurance enabled Swedish fire insurers to mitigate underwriting and solvency risks and thus increased their capacity to underwrite new business in uncertain economic times. This in turn helped to increase the supply of indemnity coverage for property (buildings) fire risks in the Swedish insurance market. We also find that as expected, investment earnings are inversely related to reinsurance purchases. However, contrary to what was hypothesised, reinsurance appears to be positively related to liquidity levels, suggesting that over our period of analysis, fire insurers could have been reinsuring to ‘protect’ earnings and accumulated cash reserves therefore enabling investment opportunities to be realised. Analysis of the sub-period 1919–28 further supports this contention, while our results for the economic depression years after 1929 show that reinsurance helped mitigate underwriting and insolvency risks, suggesting that the reinsurance decision of fire insurance companies could be motivated by macroeconomic factors.
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| 2. |
- Adams, Mike, et al.
(author)
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Mutuality as a control for information asymmetry : a historical analysis of the claims experience of mutual and stock fire insur ance companies in Sweden, 1889 to 1939
- 2011
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In: Business History. - Ilford, Essex : Cass. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 53:7, s. 1074-1091
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We test two competing arguments regarding the influence of organisational form onunderwritingperformance usingdatafromtheSwedish fireinsuranceindustry for the years 1889 to 1939 – a period of both economic growth and stagnation. Since mutuality is a response to information asymmetry problems, mutual insurers are expected to report lower annual claims relative to premiums than stock insurance companies. However, an alternative view is that stock insurers seek to reduce information asymmetry problems by issuing non-participatory rights insurance contracts with high deductibles that induce risk-sharing between the insurer’s shareholders and policyholders. This implies that stock insurers are likely to report lower annual claims than mutual insurers. Our results show that organisational form is an important determinant of the claims experience of Swedish fire insurers, suggesting that mutuality acts as an effective control for information asymmetries in the market.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Andersson, Lars Fredrik, 1974-, et al.
(author)
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Life insurance and income growth : the case of Sweden 1830-1950
- 2010
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In: Scandinavian Economic History Review. - : Routledge. - 0358-5522 .- 1750-2837. ; 58:3, s. 203-219
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper we provide an analysis of the life insurance market in Sweden from the early 19th century to the mid 20th century. We consider determinants put forward in the financial history literature to explain the growth of life insurance. The paper shows that income elasticity of demand gives a fairly good approximation of the development in the twentieth century, while the development of risk and insurance innovation among other things need to be taken into account to explain the growth of life insurance in nineteenth century. The price of life insurance, measured as the overhead-to-premium-income-ratio, remained fairly constant during the second half of the 19th century, while the risk, as indicated in terms of crude mortality rates and its volatility did decline. This probably improved the return on life-insurance savings and further helped the entry of new firms. The average premium size was reduced to enable the diffusion of life insurance to workers.
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| 6. |
- Andersson, Lars-Fredrik, 1974-, et al.
(author)
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The determinants of investment returns in the fire insurance industry : the case of Sweden, 1903-1939
- 2013
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In: Financial History Review. - Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. - 0968-5650 .- 1474-0052. ; 20:1, s. 73-89
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Weemploy a panel data research design to examine the determinants of investmentreturns in the Swedish property fire insurance industry from 1903 to 1939 – aperiod of great economic and political uncertainty. Contrary to expectations,we find that mutual fire insurers generated systematically higher investmentreturns than stock fire insurers. Investment returns are inversely related toleverage but positively related to liquidity, showing that firms adopting amore precautionary investment strategy attain higher returns.
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| 7. |
- Andersson, Lars Fredrik, 1974-, et al.
(author)
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Unintentional climate policy : Swedish experiences of carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth 1950-2005
- 2010
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This paper examines the development of carbon dioxide emissions in Sweden, especially with a focus on the absolute reductions during the post-war period, during the 1970s and 1980s. The paper shows that the largest reductions were achieved before the introduction of an active climate policy in 1991. This was in turn the result of significant improvements in energy efficiency and energy conversion, while structural changes were considerably less important. One reason behind this decoupling process may be that the active energy policy put pressure on households and industries to conserve energy and to substitute from oil to electricity and biofuels. The process was substantially reinforced by the development of world oil prices in combination with the development of domestic electricity prices, where nuclear power seems to have played an important role.
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| 8. |
- Lilljegren, Josef, 1984-, et al.
(author)
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Variation in organizational form across lines of property insurance : Sweden, 1913-1939
- 2014
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In: Financial History Review. - : Cambridge University Press. - 0968-5650 .- 1474-0052. ; 21:1, s. 77-101
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article examines the impact of organizational structure on risk taking across different lines of property insurance (fire, marine, vehicle and specialized property insurance) in Sweden from 1913 to 1939. Based on the theoretical arguments whereby the mutual organizational form has a competitive advantage in underwriting homogeneous but unknown risk distribution, while the stock organizational form is more likely to underwrite more volatile and heterogeneous risk categories, we conclude that organizational form has a significant impact on risk taking. Our empirical analysis shows that the risk taking, measured as incurred claims to anticipated losses, was on average lower among mutual insurers. When comparing across lines of insurance, the analysis shows that the mutual form was more successful in keeping down risks in fire and marine, while less so in vehicle and specialized property insurance. Stock companies mitigated the higher risk by ceding more premiums to reinsurers and by diversifying more across different lines of insurance.
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| 9. |
- Lindmark, Magnus, 1967-, et al.
(author)
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All fired up : the growth of fire insurance in Sweden, 1830-1950
- 2010
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In: Financial History Review. - : Cambridge Journals. - 0968-5650 .- 1474-0052. ; 17:1, s. 99-117
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this article we investigate supply and demand factors that have been put forward to explain the growth of fire insurance markets in Sweden during the financial revolution. We show that income growth and urbanisation fostered the demand for fire insurance. The supply of fire insurance, on the other hand, helps explain financial market development. Fire insurance assisted in mortgaging fixed assets, such as houses, through guaranteeing them as collateral. On both the upply side and the demand side, fire insurance was a key factor of the financial revolution in Sweden.
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| 10. |
- Lindmark, Magnus, 1967-, et al.
(author)
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Household firewood consumption in Sweden during the nineteenth century
- 2010
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In: Journal of Northern Studies. - Umeå : Umeå University & The Royal Skyttean Society. - 1654-5915. ; :2, s. 55-78
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Household firewood consumption underwent significant changes during the industrial breakthrough. Recent literature on Sweden makes thecase that greater energy efficiency drastically reduced rural household fuel consumption, while coal substituted for firewood in cities. This article shows that although coal substituted for wood in some urban areas, rural firewood consumption was not reduced. Higher standards of living indicate contrary to previous results that fuel consumption increased during the industrialisation process. The study shows that households with higher standard of living consumed more fuel and that rural households, due to lower fuel prices, consumed relatively more fuel than urban households. The result shows contrary to previous research that the total energy intensity decreased more rapidly after and no tbefore the industrial breakthrough.
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