Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/72288 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
Reihe Ökonomie / Economics Series No. 189
Publisher: 
Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS), Vienna
Abstract: 
There exist a vast number of studies on the banking industry. However, the insurance industry remains relatively unexplored. Increasingly, Austrian insurance institutions are becoming important as financial intermediaries in the domestic market, and - based on proximity advantage - also in the Central and Eastern European markets. This paper applies the structure, conduct and performance (SCP) approach to a sample of 52 Austrian insurance firms. The main finding is that the standard SCP hypothesis of highly concentrated markets, which create incentives to engage in collusive behaviour and which in turn leads to higher industry profit rates, cannot be supported by the Austrian insurance industry. leads to higher industry profit rates, cannot be supported by the Austrian insurance industry.
Subjects: 
insurance industry
market structure
conduct and performance
industrial organisation
JEL: 
G22
L1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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