The American Risk and Insurance Association presents the Robert C. Witt Award each year for the article published the previous calendar year in The Journal of Risk and Insurance judged to be the best by an independent committee of experts.
2024 Witt Award:
The recipient of the 2024 Robert C. Witt Award was Tao Chen, Shinichi Kamiya, Pingyi Lou, and Andreas Milidonis for “Analyst coverage, executive compensation and corporate risk-taking: Evidence from property–casualty insurance firms,” December 2023, Volume 90, Issue 4, pages 899-939.
Abstract
Using an exogenous drop in analyst coverage introduced by broker closures and mergers, we test for the causal impact of analyst coverage on corporate risk-taking, in an opaque industry. We document an increase in risk using several book-based and market-based risk measures, including tail and default risk measures. Results are driven by firms with stronger managerial risk-taking compensation incentives. The increase in risk is stronger in more opaque firms, and firms with weaker policyholder monitoring. Firm risk increases through at least one risk-taking action, such as investing firm assets in higher-risk bonds. Our study highlights the importance of stock analysts in affecting corporate risk-taking, especially in the presence of stronger managerial, compensation risk-taking incentives.
The recipient of the 2023 Robert C. Witt Award was Tristan Jourde for “The Rising Interconnectedness of the Insurance Sector,” June 2022, Vol 89, Issue 2, pages 397-425.
Abstract
This paper examines the long-term evolution of the linkages of the insurance sector with financial and nonfinancial companies. We develop a measure of connectedness using a multifactor model of weekly equity returns. The empirical analysis is conducted from 1973 to 2018, for 16 developed countries, at both the sectoral and institution levels. The results indicate that, unlike other sectors, the connectedness level of the insurance industry has strengthened o
Archive of Witt Award Winners
2023 Robert C. Witt Award
Tristan Jourde for The Rising Interconnectedness of the Insurance Sector.
2022 Robert C. Witt Award
Hanming Fang and Edward Kung for Why Do Life Insurance Policyholders Lapse? The Roles of Income, Health, and Bequest Motive Shocks.
2021 Robert C. Witt Award
Daniel Gottlieb and Olivia Mitchell for Narrow Framing and Long-Term Care Insurance.
2020 Robert C. Witt Award
Robert Kaestner, Cuiping Schiman, and G. Caleb Alexander for Effects of Prescription Drug Coverage on Hospitalization and Mortality: Evidence from Medicare Part D.
2019 Robert C. Witt Award
Greg Niehaus for Managing Capital by Internal Capital Market Transactions: The Case of Life Insurers.
2018 Robert C. Witt Award
Carole Bernard, Ludger Rüschendorf, and Steven Vanduffel for Value-at-Risk Bounds with Variance Constraints.
2017 Robert C. Witt Award
Jeffrey R. Brown, Arie Kapteyn, and Olivia S. Mitchell for Framing and Claiming: How Information-Framing Affects Expected Social Security Claiming Behavior.
2016 Robert C. Witt Award
Casey Rothschild for Non-Exclusivity, Linear Pricing, and Annuity Market Screening.
2015 Robert C. Witt Award
J. David Cummins and Mary A. Weiss for Systemic Risk and the U.S. Insurance Sector.
2014 Robert C. Witt Award
Alex Boulatov and Stephan Dieckmann for The Risk-Sharing Implications of Disaster Insurance Funds.
2013 Robert C. Witt Award
Antonie Bommier and Bertrand Villeneuve for Risk Aversion and the Value of Risk to Life.
2012 Robert C. Witt Award
Casey Rothschild for The Efficiency of Categorical Discrimination in Insurance Markets.
2011 Robert C. Witt Award
Alma Cohen and Peter Siegelman for Testing for Adverse Selection in Insurance Markets.
2010 Robert C. Witt Award
Arthur Snow for On the Possibility of Profitable Self-Selection Contracts in Competitive Insurance Markets.
2009 Robert C. Witt Award
Pierre Picard for Natural Disaster Insurance and the Equity-Efficiency Trade-Off.
2008 Robert C. Witt Award
Kenneth Froot for Risk Management, Capital Budgeting, and Capital Structure Policy for Insurers and Reinsurers.
2007 Robert C. Witt Award
Ignacio Moreno, Francisco Vazquez, and Richard Watt for Can Bonus-Malus Alleviate Insurance Fraud?
2006 Robert C. Witt Award
Neil Doherty and Kent Smetters for Moral Hazard in Reinsurance Markets; and David S. Loughran for Deterring Fraud: The Role of General Damage Awards in Automobile Insurance Settlements
2005 Robert C. Witt Award
Patrick L. Brockett, Ray E. Chang, John J. Rousseau, John H. Semple, and Chuanhou Yang for A Comparison of HMO Efficiencies as a Function of Provider Autonomy.
2004 Robert C. Witt Award
Louis Eeckhoudt, Olivier Mahul, and John Moran for Fixed Reimbursement Insurance: Basic Properties & Comparative Statics.
2003 Robert C. Witt Award
Steven Boyce and Richard Ippolito for The Cost of Pension Insurance.
2002 Robert C. Witt Award
Christian Gollier and Louis Eeckhoudt for Which Shape for the Cost Curve of Risk?
2001 Robert C. Witt Award
There was a tie for the Witt award in 2001: Stewart Myers and James Read, Jr. for Capital Allocation for Insurance Companies, and Kent Smetters for The Equivalence Between State Contingent Tax Policy and Options and Forwards: An Application to Investing the Social Security Trust Fund in Equities.
2000 Robert C. Witt Award
Krupa Subramanian, Jean Lemaire, John C. Hershey, Mark V. Pauly, Katrina Armstrong, and David A. Asch for Estimating Adverse Selection Costs from Genetic Testing for Breast and Ovarian Cancer: The Case of Life Insurance.