In the first essay, we prove existence and uniqueness of equilibrium in a rent-seeking contest given a class of heterogeneous risk-loving players. We explore the role third-order risk attitude plays in equilibrium and find that imprudence is sufficient for risk lovers to increase rent-seeking investment above the risk-neutral outcome. Moreover, we show that rent can be fully dissipated in a standard Tullock contest when there is a large number of risk-loving players. In the second essay, we investigates the impact classic variables like medical care and lifestyle choices have on the mean, variance and skewness of a health distribution. We achieve this by positing health as output from a stochastic production process, a seemingly practical advantage over much of the deterministic literature. We leverage this unique approach to estimate how a set of explanatory variables impact the conditional moments of a health distribution. We then use these moments in a maximum entropy framework to analyze the shape impact of medical care. We find evidence of "flat of the curve'' medicine but also demonstrate the higher-order benefits of additional medical care. In the third and final essay, we investigate risk in the context of farmer and their choice of irrigation. While the benefits and utilization of crop irrigation have long been examined in agricultural economics, little attention is paid to the potential confounding relationship that may exist with other risk-management tools. Specifically, we pursue how standard crop insurance relates to irrigation. We identify irrigation as a form of self-protection, reducing the probability of crop loss due to adverse stochastic conditions. Given this, we investigate if irrigation acts as a complement to crop insurance. We test this relationship within a model of crop yields, identifying that jointly irrigated and insured lands both receive higher average yield and lead to variance and skewness effects on the overall yield distribution.

Petra Steinorth präsentiert in ihrer in englischer Sprache vorgelegten kumulativen Dissertationsschrift drei theoretische Modelle, die Versicherungsentscheidungen über mehrere Perioden und bei privater Information seitens der Versicherungsnehmer ökonomisch untersuchen. Die Dissertation leistet einen wichtigen Beitrag zur theoretischen Forschung im Bereich Ver-sicherungsökonomie, da insbesondere zu mehrperiodigen Fragestellungen noch großer Forschungsbedarf besteht: Der Beitrag „Impact of Health Savings Accounts on Precautionary Savings, Demand for Health Insurance and Prevention Effort“ untersucht den Einfluss von steuerlich begünstigten Gesundheitssparkonten auf das Sparverhalten, die Nachfrage nach Krankenversicherung und Prävention. Im zweiten Beitrag „Yes, No, Perhaps – Explaining the Demand for Risk Classification Insurance with Imperfect Private Information“ wird untersucht, welche Granularität der Risikoklassifizierung optimal ist, wenn die Versicherungsnehmer unvollständige private Information über ihren zukünftigen Risikotyp haben. Der dritte Beitrag „The Demand for Enhanced Annuities“ analysiert die Reaktion des Marktes auf die Einführung von sogenannten Enhanced Annuities. Dabei handelt es sich um Rentenversicherungsprodukte, die die individuelle Lebenserwartung bei der Tarifierung berücksichtigen. Die wissenschaftliche Arbeit ist auch für Mitarbeiter in Versicherungsunternehmen von Interesse, da sie wichtige Bereiche des Produktmanagements in der Lebens- und Krankenversicherung behandelt. Petra Steinorth’s dissertation consists of three theoretical models, which all examine the economics of selected multi-period insurance decisions with private information on the part of the insured. The thesis makes an important contribution to insurance economics literature as multi-period problems have not yet been widely studied. The article “Impact of Health Savings Accounts on Precautionary Savings, Demand for Health Insurance and Prevention Effort” investigates how tax incentives like health savings accounts influence savings for medical costs, the demand for health insurance and ex ante moral hazard. The second article “Yes, no, perhaps – Explaining the Demand for Risk Classification Insurance” examines the optimal risk classification in case the insured have incomplete private information regarding their future risk type. The third article “The Demand for Enhanced Annuities” analyzes the market reaction to the introduction of so-called enhanced annuities, which are annuities that take individual factors influencing life expectancy into account for pricing. The scientific dissertation is also of interest to insurance practitioners as it examines important issues in the field of health and life insurance product management.