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Infinite‐mean losses: insurance's “dread disease”

Michael R. Powers (Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)

Journal of Risk Finance

ISSN: 1526-5943

Article publication date: 2 March 2010

559

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consider the existence and significance of heavy‐tailed – and in particular, infinite‐mean – insurance losses.

Design/methodology/approach

Three specific questions are addressed in turn. First, how do infinite‐mean insurance losses arise in the real world? Second, can infinite‐mean losses exist even in the presence of insurance policy limits (caps)? Third, why are infinite‐mean losses so infrequently discussed by practitioners and regulators?

Findings

The paper first shows that heavy‐tailed – and in particular, infinite‐mean – insurance losses can be generated by simple modifications of gamma (exponential) random variables. It then finds that the property of infinite means cannot be prevented by the imposition of policy limits (caps). Finally, the paper argues that the statistical contagion and financial intractability of infinite‐mean losses generate a political fear among practitioners and regulators analogous to that associated with a “dread disease.”

Originality/value

The paper explores an important insurance phenomenon – heavy‐tailed/infinite‐mean losses – that is insufficiently discussed.

Keywords

Citation

Powers, M.R. (2010), "Infinite‐mean losses: insurance's “dread disease”", Journal of Risk Finance, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 125-128. https://doi.org/10.1108/15265941011025152

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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