Three Essays on Systemic Risk and Rating in Crop Insurance Markets

The third essay examines the actuarial implications of the Loss Cost Ratio (LCR) ratemaking methodology employed by the Federal Government for setting base rates for the program, and identifies specific conditions required for the LCR methodology to result in unbiased rates. Specifically, constant relative risk through time and other restrictive requirements are required. These requirements are tested against a unique farm-level data set. The results indicate that the conditions required for the LCR to produce unbiased rates are violated for a large number of actual farmers. Implications include that the current ratemaking produces biased rates that are 75%-180% in excess of actuarially fair premiums in Illinois. A simple correction function is proposed and illustrated.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Agricultural and Consumer Economics

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Woodard, Joshua D.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Sherrick, Bruce J.

• Economics, Finance

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3337964

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/83005