A simple test for private information in insurance markets with heterogeneous insurance demand Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • 2015 Elsevier B.V. A positive correlation between insurance coverage and ex post risk indicates private information in insurance markets. However, this test fails if agents have heterogeneous risk attitudes. We propose a finite mixture model that conditions on unobserved types who differ in their risks preferences and detects asymmetric information even if heterogeneous risk attitudes exist. Our method identifies the existence of private information, without using direct evidence of private information.

published proceedings

  • ECONOMICS LETTERS

author list (cited authors)

  • Gan, L. i., Huang, F., & Mayer, A.

citation count

  • 8

complete list of authors

  • Gan, Li||Huang, Feng||Mayer, Adalbert

publication date

  • January 2015