Journal of Risk and Insurance
American Risk and Insurance Association

Calls for Papers

The Journal of Risk and Insurance promotes the following calls for papers:

  • Special Issue on Algorithmic Bias and Fairness in Insurance: Testing, Industry Impact, and Regulatory Challenges (deadline: June 1, 2024)
  • Special Issue on The Role of Government vs. Private Sector Provision of Insurance (CLOSED)
  • Special Issue on The Economics of Emerging Insurance Technologies: Theory and Early Evidence (CLOSED)
  • Special Issue on Climate Change and Natural Disasters (CLOSED)
  • Special Issue on Health Insurer Decision-Making (CLOSED)
  • Special Issue on the Implications of COVID-19 for the Insurance Industry (CLOSED) __________________________________________________________________________________

Special Issue on Algorithmic Bias and Fairness in Insurance: Testing, Industry Impact, and Regulatory Challenges

The use of more granular consumer data and advanced prediction algorithms in the insurance industry is increasingly raising concerns about the impact on policyholders, particularly individuals from minority groups. In response, in the United States, several states have issued new legislation intending to protect consumers from insurance practices that result in unfair discrimination, such as Colorado Senate Bill 21-169 or the District of Columbia Department of Insurance’s Initiative to Evaluate Unintentional Bias.

However, there are many open questions, including:

  • How should companies test for the presence of algorithmic bias (see e.g. the Issue Brief by the American Academy of Actuaries)?
  • How and to what extent should companies mitigate potential biases once detected? What are potential tradeoffs for consumers and insurance carriers?
  • How should regulators respond to the possibility of bias?
  • What special considerations for bias and fairness arise when human decision-makers interact with algorithms and artificial intelligence in settings such as underwriting, claims handling, and more?
  • How do policyholders define bias and perceive which predictive practices are fair? How do these correspond to the definitions considered by regulators?

The Journal of Risk and Insurance invites submissions that speak to these developments, analyze the potential impacts, and propose potential solutions. We believe researchers are in a unique position to contribute to this important subject.

Papers are due by June 1, 2024. Papers will be reviewed on a rolling basis as they are submitted, so we encourage those with a paper that fits the special issue to submit them prior to the deadline when possible. All papers will undergo the standard peer-reviewed referee process.

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Special Issue on The Role of Government vs. Private Sector Provision of Insurance (CLOSED)

Insurance is heavily regulated, and in some situations, coverage is available only through the government. There is a long history in risk and insurance economics of research into insurance market failures, and the reasons for and impacts of government intervention in insurance markets. Many studies have highlighted the role for public intervention in markets whether there are either correlated risks or significant information asymmetries. At the same time, modern developments in the changing nature of economic risks, new techniques for overcoming information asymmetries, as well as new mechanisms of accessing capital in insurance markets, suggest value in continuing to explore the interactions between public and private provision of insurance and risk protection. We seek papers that explore the conditions when governments and public institutions work well and when they do not in supporting insurance markets.

Topics of interest may include, but are not limited to:

  • The role for public intervention in insurance of climate and catastrophe risks
  • Cyber risks
  • Pandemic-related risks
  • Mechanisms for providing capital for correlated risk in insurance markets
  • The role of advanced prediction techniques and “big data” in overcoming information asymmetries (particularly how they relate to public regulation or involvement in insurance markets)
  • The impact of “public options” in hybrid markets with private and public provision of insurance
  • Comparisons of ex-post taxes and ex-ante insurance

Papers will be reviewed on a rolling basis as they are submitted, so we encourage those with a paper that fits the special issue to submit them prior to the deadline when possible. All papers will undergo a standard peer-reviewed referee process in keeping with the Journal of Risk and Insurance’s standard policies.

We highlight that the JRI has a “prior review” process in which editorial decisions and referee reports from prior submissions to top journals in economics and finance can be submitted to help expedite the review process with the possibility that the JRI editorial team may be able to make an initial decision without seeking a full set of new outside reviews.

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Special Issue on the Economics of Emerging Insurance Technologies: Theory and Early Evidence (CLOSED)

There is increasing coverage in the popular press that digitalization and/or new technologies will disrupt—or are already disrupting—the insurance industry. Ample investments are made by capital providers in insurance technology startups, and legacy companies are also heavily investing and fostering intrapreneurship to stay relevant.  These developments, however, are not yet reflected in the academic literature.

The Journal of Risk and Insurance invites submissions that speak to these developments and use established frameworks of risk and insurance economics to analyze, vet, and possibly scrutinize emerging ideas in insurance technology. We are interested in contributions that engage with the promise and limitations of recent insurance solutions, including on-demand and usage-based insurance products, smart contracts, and insurance exchange platforms

Topics of particular interest include but are not limited to:

  • Theoretical research that discusses insurance solutions in light of the (behavioral, informational, cost) economic issue they are trying to solve, and potential intended and unintended economic consequences for insurance markets.
  • Empirical research that analyzes whether and how new products or processes are changing insurance companies or the insurance marketplace.
  • Empirical and/or experimental investigations of behavioral factors related to transitions to digital insurance products.
  • Research on regulatory consequences or challenges in light of new insurance solutions.

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Special Issue on Climate Change and Natural Disasters (CLOSED)

Topics of interest are broad and could include, for example, the ways that insurers respond to climate change, how climate change affects insurers, how consumers respond to climate change (e.g., resilience), economic recovery after extreme events, the impact of increasing losses from secondary perils (perils that happen more frequently relative to mega-events such as earthquakes and hurricanes — hail, drought, wildfire, snow, flash floods, and landslides), and individual decision making for low probability high severity events.

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Special Issue on Health Insurer Decision-Making (CLOSED)

The Journal of Risk and Insurance (JRI) invites paper submissions for a planned special issue (or partial issue) on the topic of health insurer decision-making. While many studies analyze health insurance markets with a focus on decisions by individuals, healthcare providers, and policy-makers, this special issue will support the burgeoning literature investigating health insurer decision-making.

PAPER SUBMISSION TOPICS

Topics of interest are broad and could include, for example, the ways that insurers respond to regulation, trends in the prevalence and nature of provider-sponsored health plans, decisions about horizontal mergers among insurers, insurer decisions about plan or network designs, and the operation of self-insured vs. fully insured health insurance plans. We are open to research on a range of health insurance markets and expressly encourage international comparisons and perspectives.

SPECIAL EDITORIAL TEAM

A special editorial team, consisting of Jean Abraham (University of Minnesota), Hanming Fang (University of Pennsylvania), Amanda Starc (Northwestern University), Justin Sydnor (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Nicolas Ziebarth (Cornell University) will handle the papers for this submission. Papers will undergo the JRI’s standard peer-review process and the standards for acceptance will be the same as for other papers in the journal. Papers should be of general interest to the readership of the JRI, which is the leading journal specializing in risk management and insurance. The JRI is receptive to a range of methodological approaches, provided that they are appropriate for the research questions and analysis being undertaken. In particular, we are open to papers that are largely descriptive in nature but stress that these papers need to make a substantive contribution to our general understanding of the functioning of health insurance markets.

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Special Issue on the Implications of COVID-19 for the Insurance Industry (CLOSED)

The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic affects virtually every aspect of daily life, business, and society. This is particularly true for the insurance industry, where the disease itself, the collateral impact, and the uncertainties associated with a post-COVID world pose major challenges. As the premier journal for insurance-related research, the Journal of Risk and Insurance (JRI) invites submissions related to the implications of COVID-19 for the insurance industry.

PAPER SUBMISSION TOPICS

We invite submission of research papers that connect to coronavirus and the insurance industry. We particularly encourage research that informs decisions related to the business of insurance and public policy choices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, including perspectives on the economic impact for the insurance industry going forward.

Topics of particular interest include but are not limited to:

  • The implications of COVID-19 for different lines of insurance, including the life, personal, and commercial sectors (e.g., business interruption insurance).
  • The implications of COVID-19 for health insurance systems, both in view of public policy and the industrial organization of the system.
  • Studies comparing other major catastrophic events, including other pandemic outbreaks, to the current situation, particularly with the objective to improve short-term decision-making.
  • Analyses of manifestations of and potential approaches to address the increase in global uncertainty.
  • Potential lessons from the sudden and deep economic impact of COVID-19, with regards to the insurance industry and corporate risk management more broadly.

We welcome submissions of both theoretical and empirical manuscripts.

REVIEW PROCESS

Manuscripts submitted will be evaluated with similar expectations of rigor and carefulness as other JRI submissions, although given the pressing nature of the call for papers and rapid associated changes, we aim for an expedited review process. Papers will be evaluated as they are submitted, and accepted papers will be published in early view on the JRI website. The finalized special issue will be published immediately after all papers have been finalized, prospectively in early 2021.

For authors seeking early feedback about potential research ideas or proposals, we established an optional pre-review process, where senior members of the JRI editorial team agree to provide ad-hoc reviews. If you are interested in taking advantage of this process, please send your proposal or early draft no later than September 15 to jri@wsb.wisc.edu indicating “COVID-19 pre-review request” in the subject line. As with submissions, the proposal will be routed to an appropriate member of the panel.