In an online survey, we asked readers to identify who they believed to be most responsible for the recent financial collapse.  In their response, most readers (42%) believed that the blame should be equally assigned to Wall Street, the federal government and main street borrowers/lenders.  However, the federal government took second place, with 28%, ahead [...]

See this commentary in the San Antonio Express at http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/Feds_could_trigger_insurance_reform.html

A handful of leading politicians claim that financial deregulation was responsible for the U.S. financial calamity.  But, informed consumers should take pause and look at the facts.  As Dr. Darby pointed out in a recent blog, there has been a lot of meddling going on to promote special interests at the expense of consumers and at the expense [...]

Read Dr. Darby’s assessment of the recent collapse and how it is tied to legislation that ignores the risks of moral hazard and, instead respresents politically popular causes that impose hidden taxes.  It was published in the Washington Times on September 30, 2008 at  
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/30/the-financial-market-collapse/?page=2
 
 FINANCIAL COLLAPSE?
 
Complex events never have single causes or simple fixes. A [...]

Mounting evidence shows that onerous state-based price regulation has adverse consequences on insurance markets — increasing industry costs, discouraging market entry and competition, and creating price distortions. This ConsumerGram provides additional evidence that state-based price regulation of automobile insurance tends to increase consumer prices, thereby reducing consumer welfare. These studies suggest that state-based price regulation [...]

Insurance companies use consumer credit scores as one factor in determining consumer insurance premiums.  Overwhelming research finds that credit scores are highly correlated to insurance claims, which helps insurance carriers align premiums with expected losses.  However, some policymakers have questioned the “fairness” of credit scores as a partial determinant of insurance premiums.  This ConsumerGram finds [...]

Do high levels of insurance regulations benefit consumers?  This ConsumerGram provides new empirical evidence showing that increased state insurance regulation is strongly correlated with higher consumer insurance premiums.  Our statistical analysis finds that the average household pays about $300 more for property and casualty insurance in heavily regulated states, compared to the least regulated states.  [...]

Consumer Opinions on Insurance Price Regulation
Stephen Pociask*
 
Executive Summary
 
Virtually every state regulates insurance service prices, at least to some degree, although the economic rationale for such regulation remains unclear.  For instance, home and automobile premiums are routinely set in ways that systematically overcharge some consumers groups so that others may benefit.  Specifically, many state insurance commissions [...]

Consumers Believe Competition Would Lower Insurance Premiums
 
Washington DC, March 5, 2008 ––The majority of consumers would like to see competition between federally-regulated and state-regulated insurance companies and believe that having more competition would reduce consumer prices, according to consumer opinion research.  The findings, based on a survey of head of households who subscribe to auto [...]

Insurance Regulation:
Market or Government Failure?
Stephen B. Pociask , Joseph P. Fuhr and Larry F. Darby[1]
 
 

Executive Summary

More than 100 years ago, there was a shift in public sentiment towards increased regulatory oversight of large and concentrated industries that resulted from concern from potential monopoly harms.  This regulatory oversight was innocuously justified as being in the public [...]