What is microinsurance, why is it important and why has it fallen short of its potential global market? A one-day Risk & Insurance Studies Centre Forum will delve into questions about where microinsurance stands today and where it is headed.
The forum will take place on Monday, Nov. 25, starting with a reception and breakfast at 8 a.m. in the Miles S. Nadal Management Centre in the East Tower of the Toronto Dominion Centre at 222 Bay St., Suite 500, in Toronto.
Ida Ferrara, an associate professor of economics in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, and Ed Furman, a professor of mathematics and statistics in the Faculty of Science, both part of the Risk & Insurance Studies Centre, are organizing the forum and will deliver an introduction at 8:30 a.m.
Michael J. McCord of the MicroInsurance Centre at Milliman, and one of the leading global experts in developing and managing microinsurance products, will deliver the keynote speech at 9 a.m.
Microinsurance, which is often labelled the next revolution in insurance, has witnessed explosive growth in developing countries, covering nearly 500 million low-income individuals in 2011. The current outreach of microinsurance is far below its estimated global market potential of four billion people.
What is this exclusion due to? Is it because of self-imposed constraints, or a result of credit and institutional barriers and market imperfections? Is there a role for microinsurance to play in developed countries? Can microinsurance become a game-changer for achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals?
The Risk & Insurance Studies Centre Forum 2019 will address these questions by bringing internationally renowned scholars and influential practitioners under one roof.
Speakers will include:
- Professor Liran Einav of the Department of Economics, Stanford University, with the talk “A Graphical Analysis of Pricing and Market Design in Regulated Insurance Markets“;
- Professor Michael Carter of the Department of Economics, University of California Davis, with the talk “Improving the Quality of Agricultural Index Insurance with a Satellite-Based Conditional Audit Contract“; and
- Associate Professor Runhuan Feng of the Department of Mathematics, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, with the talk “The Rise of Peer-to-Peer Insurance and Its Mathematical Modeling.”
The day will wrap up with an industry panel.
For a full schedule of speakers and their talks, visit the forum website or click here to register.
The event is co-organized by Ferrara and Furman and is sponsored by York University, the Casualty Actuarial Society and the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences.