Working Paper: NBER ID: w23303
Authors: A. Mitchell Polinsky; Steven Shavell
Abstract: The theory of insurance is considered here when an insured individual may be able to sue another party for the losses that the insured suffered—and thus when an insured has a potential source of compensation in addition to insurance coverage. Insurance policies reflect this possibility through so-called subrogation provisions that give insurers the right to step into the shoes of insureds and to bring suits against injurers. In a basic case, the optimal subrogation provisions involve full retention by the insurer of the proceeds from a successful suit and the pursuit of all positive expected value suits. This eliminates litigation risks for insureds and results in lower premiums—financed by the litigation income of insurers, including from suits that insureds would not otherwise have brought. Moreover, optimal subrogation provisions are characterized in the presence of moral hazard, administrative costs, and non-monetary losses and it is demonstrated that optimal provisions entail sharing litigation proceeds with insureds in the first two cases but not when losses are non-monetary.
Keywords: insurance; subrogation; moral hazard; administrative costs; nonmonetary losses
JEL Codes: G22; K13; K41
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Optimal subrogation provisions (G33) | Lower insurance premiums (G52) |
| Insurer's ability to pursue litigation income (G33) | Lower insurance premiums (G52) |
| Full retention of litigation proceeds by insurers (G22) | Lower litigation risk for insureds (K41) |
| Lower litigation risk for insureds (K41) | Lower insurance premiums (G52) |
| Subrogation provisions (G33) | Encourage insureds to pursue positive expected value suits (G52) |
| Moral hazard and administrative costs (G52) | Insureds should receive a share of litigation proceeds (G52) |
| Nonmonetary losses (E49) | Insurer retains all litigation proceeds (G22) |