Pareto Optimality and Equilibrium in an Insurance Market

Abstract

The concept of economic equilibrium under uncertainty is applied to a model of insurance market where, in distinction to the classic Borch's model of a reinsurance market, risk exchanges are allowed between the insurer and each insured only, not among insureds themselves. Conditions characterizing an equilibrium are found. A variant of the conditions, based on the Pareto optimality notion and involving risk aversion functions of the agents, is derived. An existence theorem is proved. Computation of the market premiums and optimal indemnities is illustrated by an example with exponential utility functions.