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

Income and substitution effects, Income and Substitution Effects A fall...

Income and Substitution Effects A fall in price of a good has the two effects: Substitution & Income -Substitution Effect Consumers will tend to buy more of the good

What is development economics, What is development economics? Traditio...

What is development economics? Traditional economics studies the allowance of scarce resources among alternative uses. Development economics seems at the economic, politica

Essentials of development administration for economics, Essentials of Devel...

Essentials of Development Administration  Development administration, to be effective and efficient, needs to have the following ingredients:  Administrative Innovation:

Standard electrode potentials, Measured cell emf are the basis for standard...

Measured cell emf are the basis for standard electrode potentials. chemistry assignments A method for the presentation of the data obtained from measurements of the equilibrium

Economics of Information and Uncertainty Problem Set, 1. Consider a world w...

1. Consider a world with two assets: a riskless asset paying a zero interest rate, and a risky asset whose return r can take values +10% or –8% with equal probability. An individua

Marginal product of a factor, Marginal Product (MP) of a Factor: From ...

Marginal Product (MP) of a Factor: From the above mentioned production function, immediately we can study the effect on total output when there is a variation in labour utlili

Risk aversion and indifference curve, Risk Aversion and Income - Variab...

Risk Aversion and Income - Variability in potential payoffs increases risk premium. - Example: A job has a .5% probability of paying $40,000 (utility of 20) and a 5 p

Production function, what are the properties of cob-douglas production func...

what are the properties of cob-douglas production function

Market Power, Which of the following is evidence of market power? a. Output...

Which of the following is evidence of market power? a. Output is fixed despite cost changes b. Optimal Output is less than industry output c. Output changes as cost changes

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