Microinsurance, Trust and Economic Development: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Field Experiment

We report results from a large randomized natural field experiment conducted in southwestern China in the context of insurance for sows. Our study sheds light on two important questions about microinsurance. First, how does access to formal insurance affect farmers' production decisions? Second, what explains the low takeup rate of formal insurance, despite substantial premium subsidy from the government? We find that providing access to formal insurance significantly increases farmers' tendency to raise sows. We argue that this finding also suggests that farmers are not previously insured efficiently through informal mechanisms. We also provide several pieces of evidence suggesting that trust, or lack thereof, for government-sponsored insurance products is a significant barrier for farmers' willingness to participate in the insurance program.Microinsurance; Trust, Natural Field Experiment

Observation of sub-Poisson photon statistics in the cavity-QED microlaser

We have measured the second-order correlation function of the cavity-QED microlaser output and observed a transition from photon bunching to antibunching with increasing average number of intracavity atoms. The observed correlation times and the transition from super- to sub-Poisson photon statistics can be well described by gain-loss feedback or enhanced/reduced restoring action against fluctuations in photon number in the context of a quantum microlaser theory and a photon rate equation picture. However, the theory predicts a degree of antibunching several times larger than that observed, which may indicate the inadequacy of its treatment of atomic velocity distributions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure