NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, INC.

Insurance Project Workshop

Kenneth Froot and Howard Kunreuther, Organizers

February 16, 2001

1050 Massachusetts Avenue

Cambridge, Massachusetts

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15:

6:30 PM Group Dinner

Davio's Restaurant at the Royal Sonesta Hotel

5 Cambridge Parkway

Cambridge, MA

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16:

8:00 AM Continental Breakfast

8:30 AM J. DAVID CUMMINS, University of Pennsylvania

DAVID LALONDE, Applied Insurance Research

RICHARD PHILLIPS, Georgia State University

The Basis Risk of Catastrophic-Loss Index Securities

Discussants: DWIGHT JAFFEE, UC, Berkeley

JOHN MAJOR, Guy Carpenter & Company

9:30 AM Break

9:45 AM KAREN EPERMANIS, University of Hartford

SCOTT HARRINGTON, University of South Carolina

Market Discipline in Property-Liability Insurance

Discussants: JAMES AMENT, State Farm Fire and Casualty Company

PAUL KLEINDORFER, University of Pennsylvania

10:45 AM Break

11:00 AM JEFFREY BROWN, Harvard University and NBER

AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, University of Chicago and NBER

Does the Internet Make Markets More Competitive?

Evidence from the Life Insurance Industry

Discussants: JAMES GARVEN, Baylor University

RICHARD MEYER, Harvard University

12:00 N Lunch

1:00 PM NEIL DOHERTY, University of Pennsylvania

OLIVIER MAHUL, INRA

Mickey Mouse and Moral Hazard: Uninformative but Correlated Triggers

Discussants: RICHARD DERRIG, Automobile Insurers Bureau of Massachusetts

To Be Announced

2:00 PM GORDON WOO, Risk Management Solutions

Territorial Diversification of Catastrophe Bonds

Discussants: PAUL FREEMAN, The World Bank

KENNETH FROOT, Harvard University and NBER

3:00 PM Break

3:15 PM HOWARD KUNREUTHER, University of Pennsylvania and NBER

MARK PAULY, University of Pennsylvania

Ignoring Disaster:Don't Sweat the Big Stuff

Discussants: STEVE GOLDBERG, USAA Property and Casualty Insurance Group

SENDHIL MULLANATHY, MIT and NBER

4:15 PM Break

4:30 PM ROBERT WILLIS, University of Michigan

Cognition and Wealth: The Importance of Probabilistic Thinking

(Joint with LEE LILLARD, University of Michigan)

Discussants: OLIVIA MITCHELL, University of Pennsylvania and NBER

THOMAS RUSSELL, Santa Clara University

5:30 PM Adjourn

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