Title:
Shared Names, Shared Risks? How Social Similarity Shapes Insurance Demand in Digital Risk-Sharing Platforms
Abstract:
The disclosure of detailed claimant information, which is infeasible under traditional insurance models, has been made possible by InsurTech technologies and digital platform infrastructures. Online Mutual Aid, a InsurTech-based risk-sharing model, pools individuals to share the medical costs of participants who contract critical illnesses ex post. A distinctive, technology-driven feature of this model is the transparent, real-time disclosure of granular claim information, enabled by digital data systems and platform interfaces. This study investigates how exposure to such digitally mediated disclosures on online risk-sharing platforms influences participants’ subsequent insurance behaviors. Using proprietary data from a leading online Mutual Aid platform, we find that participants increase their insurance purchases after observing claimants who share similar name characteristics, such as a common surname or a homophonic given name. Further analysis shows that this behavioral response is jointly driven by irrational, technology-amplified superstitious associations and rational updating of perceived health risks facilitated by platform-based information transparency.
Short Biography:
Jianing Xing is a PhD candidate in Insurance at Renmin University of China. Her research interests include InsurTech, behavioral insurance, insurance capital regulation, and insurers’ investment in financial markets.
Zoom meeting link
https://illinois.zoom.us/j/85126615851?pwd=nb9flF8aBRME9uubFkCB8iCDtsXM5S.1
Meeting ID: 851 2661 5851
Password: 836388
