Local religious beliefs and insurance companies' risk-taking behaviour.

ABSTRACT: We empirically examine the effect of local religious beliefs on the risk-taking behaviour of U.S. life insurers headquartered in that region. We distinguish between insurers that predominantly write annuities and insurers that predominantly write life insurance policies; the annuity business is relatively riskier than writing life insurance. Insurers headquartered in high-Catholic or low-Protestant areas are more likely to be annuity writers. Annuity writers located in high-Catholic or low-Protestant areas invest more in risky assets and exhibit higher investment return volatilities, as well as a higher volatility of their return on assets. Overall, our results suggest that local culture has significant influences on life insurers' behaviour.

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SUBMITTER: Berry-Stolzle TR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8022316 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature