Modelling the disability severity score in motor insurance claims: an application to the Spanish case

Bodily injury claims have the greatest impact on the claim costs of motor insurance companies. The disability severity of motor claims is assessed in numerous European countries by means of score systems. In this paper a zero inflated generalized Poisson regression model is implemented to estimate the disability severity score of victims in-volved in motor accidents on Spanish roads. We show that the injury severity estimates may beautomatically converted into financial terms by insurers at any point of the claim handling process. As such, the methodology described may be used by motor insurers operating in the Spanish market to monitor the size of bodily injury claims. By using insurance data, various applications are presented in which the score estimate of disability severity is of value to insurers, either for computing the claim compensation or for claim reserve purposes.Motor accident, disability severity, zero-inflated generalized Poisson model, disability scoring scale.

Rosca Participation in Benin: a Commitment Issue

In the light of first-hand data from a Beninese urban household survey in Cotonou, we investigate several motives aiming to explain participation in Rotating Savings and Credit ASsociations. We provide anecdotal pieces of evidence, descriptive statistics, FIML regressions and matching estimates which tend to indicate that most individuals use their participation in a rosca as a device to commit themselves to save money and to deal with self-control problems.ROSCA, self-control, commitment device, Benin

Discrete distributions when modeling the disability severity score of motor victims

Many European states apply score systems to evaluate the disability severity of non-fatal motor victims under the law of third-party liability. The score is a non-negative integer with an upper bound at 100 that increases with severity. It may be automatically converted into financial terms and thus also reflects the compensation cost for disability. In this paper, discrete regression models are applied to analyze the factors that influence the disability severity score of victims. Standard and zero-altered regression models are compared from two perspectives: an interpretation of the data generating process and the level of statistical fit. The results have implications for traffic safety policy decisions aimed at reducing accident severity. An application using data from Spain is provided.Hurdle discrete data models, zero-inflated distribution, generalized method of moments, personal injuries, disability rating scale. JEL classification:-

Une stratégie de conservation axée sur la connectivité pour les Laurentides au Québec

La crise actuelle de perte de biodiversité est sans précédent. Sans des actions concertées et avant-gardistes, les conséquences pourraient s’avérer catastrophiques pour toutes les espèces vivantes sur terre incluant l’être humain. La biodiversité est d’une importance capitale pour la fonctionnalité des écosystèmes et pour les biens et les services que ces derniers peuvent rendre. L’une des principales causes de l’érosion de la biodiversité est la fragmentation du territoire. Afin de bonifier la connectivité sur un territoire, la création de réseaux écologiques composés de noyaux de conservation, de zones tampons et de corridors fauniques s’avère une avenue intéressante et fort prometteuse. Plusieurs exemples de stratégies de conservation axées sur la connectivité existent au Québec, aux États-Unis et à travers le monde. Les engagements québécois en matière d’aires protégées, sans être idéaux, offrent plusieurs possibilités d’enrichir la protection et la conservation de notre environnement. Le territoire des Laurentides au Québec revêt plusieurs caractéristiques qui en font un endroit privilégié pour le développement, entre autres, résidentiel et industriel ainsi que les activités récréotouristiques et forestières, etc. Cette situation induit une pression sur le territoire en le morcelant. L’organisme à but non lucratif Éco-corridors laurentiens a pour mission la protection des milieux naturels dans les Laurentides. Il travaille à l’ébauche d’une stratégie de conservation axée sur la connectivité. L’objectif premier de cet essai est de proposer un scénario qui répondra aux priorités qu’Éco-corridor laurentiens s’est fixé. La stratégie de conservation présentée est un corridor faunique à pas japonais dans l’axe nord-sud reliant le parc national d’Oka au parc national du Mont-Tremblant. Afin de réaliser ce chantier ambitieux, certains outils informatiques en conservation écologique peuvent être utilisés et grandement faciliter le choix des emplacements à prioriser. Différents statuts de conservation et d’options d’acquisitions de propriétés doivent impérativement être considérés. La réhabilitation de certains milieux et le franchissement d’infrastructures routières sont aussi à analyser. Finalement, il est recommandé que toutes les parties prenantes, lors de la création d’une stratégie de conservation, que ce soit l’organisme Éco-corridor laurentiens, le gouvernement du Québec, les municipalités, ou encore les citoyens, déploient des efforts considérables et orientent leurs actions dans la même direction. Ainsi, ce projet d’avant-garde pourrait en devenir un de société pour le Québec, profitable autant à la population d’aujourd’hui qu’à celle de demain

Information technology and efficiency in trucking

In this paper, we develop an econometric model to estimate the impacts of Electronic Vehicle Management Systems (EVMS) on the load factor (LF) of heavy trucks using data at the operational level. This technology is supposed to improve capacity utilization by reducing coordination costs between demand and supply. The model is estimated on a subsample of the 1999 National Roadside Survey, covering heavy trucks travelling in the province of Quebec. The LF is explained as a function of truck, trip and carrier characteristics. We show that the use of EVMS results in a 16 percentage points increase of LF on backhaul trips. However, we also find that the LF of equipped trucks is reduced by about 7.6 percentage points on fronthaul movements. This last effect could be explained by a rebound effect: higher expected LF on the returns lead carriers to accept shipments with lower fronthaul LF. Overall, we find that this technology has increased the tonne-kilometers transported of equipped trucks by 6.3% and their fuel efficiency by 5%.Information and Communication Technology, Efficiency, Load factor, Trucking, Energy Efficiency

Variable density sampling based on physically plausible gradient waveform. Application to 3D MRI angiography

Performing k-space variable density sampling is a popular way of reducing scanning time in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Unfortunately, given a sampling trajectory, it is not clear how to traverse it using gradient waveforms. In this paper, we actually show that existing methods [1, 2] can yield large traversal time if the trajectory contains high curvature areas. Therefore, we consider here a new method for gradient waveform design which is based on the projection of unrealistic initial trajectory onto the set of hardware constraints. Next, we show on realistic simulations that this algorithm allows implementing variable density trajectories resulting from the piecewise linear solution of the Travelling Salesman Problem in a reasonable time. Finally, we demonstrate the application of this approach to 2D MRI reconstruction and 3D angiography in the mouse brain.Comment: IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), Apr 2015, New-York, United State

Is it all about Money? A Randomized Evaluation of the Impact of Insurance Literacy and Marketing Treatments on the Demand for Health Microinsurance in Senegal

In Senegal mutual health organizations (MHOs) have been present in the greater region of Thiès for years. Despite their benefits, in some areas there remain low take-up rates. We offer an insurance literacy module, communicating the benefits from health microinsurance and the functioning of MHOs, to a randomly selected sample of households in the city of Thiès. The effects of this training, and three cross-cutting marketing treatments, are evaluated using a randomized control trial. We find that the insurance literacy module has no impact, but that our marketing treatment has a significant effect on the take up decisions of households.Community based health insurance scheme, Randomized control trials, Africa, Senegal