Microeconomics, Microeconomics

Assignment Help:
Consider the following insurance market. There are two states of the world, B and G, and two types of consumers, H and L, who have probabilities pH =0.5 and pL =0.25 (high and low risk) respectively of being in state B. They have common endowment e=(eG,eB) = (£900, £100). The individuals have expected utility preferences over state-contingent consumptions c=(cG,cB), with common utility function u(ci)=ln(ci), where i=B,G. Insurance firms are risk-neutral profit maximisers and offer contracts in exchange for the individuals’ endowments.

Suppose the market is competitive.

a) Outline the definition of a competitive equilibrium of this market and explain why every contract, offered by every firm, must earn zero profit in equilibrium. [7 marks]

b) Suppose the information concerning individuals’ types is symmetric, but void. It is commonly known, however, that the proportion of low risk consumers is 0.4. Derive the equilibrium set of contracts. [5 marks]

c) Find the equilibrium set of contracts when information is symmetric and perfect. [5 marks]

Now suppose that information is asymmetric; individuals know their own type but insurance firms cannot distinguish between types. (Note: there does exist an equilibrium set of contracts for this market. You may make use of this fact without proving it).

d) Explain why it must be that, if {cH,cL} is the equilibrium set of contracts, then
cH ? cL. [4 marks]

e) Explain and derive the equilibrium contract offered to high risk individuals. [3 marks]

f) Explain and derive the equilibrium contract offered to low risk individuals. [9 marks]

Related Discussions:- Microeconomics

Matlab, How do I do I use affsolve?

How do I do I use affsolve?

Price elasticity of supply, Price elasticity of supply: It is the resp...

Price elasticity of supply: It is the responsiveness of quantity supplied of a commodity to a change in the price of the commodity and measured as percentage change in quantit

Market Analysis, Is coca-cola an oligopoly or monopolistic competition

Is coca-cola an oligopoly or monopolistic competition

Analysis utility, difference between the cardinal analysis theory and ordin...

difference between the cardinal analysis theory and ordinal theory

Duopoly, write characterstics of duopoly

write characterstics of duopoly

Detergent Cartel problem, 2) Proctor & Gamble (P&G) and the Lever Co. decid...

2) Proctor & Gamble (P&G) and the Lever Co. decide to form a laundry detergent cartel for future sales in Europe. Lever is more efficient than P&G. a)illustrate graphically how the

Homework, Do not submit more than 1 file in the Canvas submission link. A f...

Do not submit more than 1 file in the Canvas submission link. A few years ago peanut farmers in India experienced a super-bumper crop due to favorable weather conditions. Initially

Excess capacity, the prevalence of excess capacity is the direct consequenc...

the prevalence of excess capacity is the direct consequence of the existence of monopolistic competition

Causes of inflation, Causes of inflation: Excessive growth in wages ...

Causes of inflation: Excessive growth in wages relative to productivity can cause inflationary pressures. This causes aggregate demand to increase relative to aggregate supp

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd