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Chị Blue làm gia sư từ khi nào thía?
Hum nào phụ đạo em zới. Thi ĐH tới nơi mà Lí mất căn bản trầm trọng.

Nhắc mới nhớ. Lý em cũng yếu kinh >.< Năm sau phải đi học thêm cả môn này Mặc dù môn nào mình thik mình mới chịu đi học. Còn lý thì chưa bao giờ ...

Tìm hiểu về bản chất và nguồn gốc của cải của các quốc gia
Wikipedia

Tìm hiểu về bản chất và nguồn gốc của cải của các quốc gia (tiếng Anh: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, thường được gọi là The Wealth of Nations) là tác phẩm kinh điển của kinh tế chính trị do Adam Smith viết và xuất bản lần đầu năm 1776.
Tác phẩm hai tập này của Adam Smith, thường được gọi tắt là Của cải của các quốc gia hay Của cải hay Quốc phú luận, có tầm vóc bách khoa, không chỉ bàn về bộ môn kinh tế học. Có nhà phê bình đã gọi tác phẩm là "Bộ sách lịch sử và phê bình nền văn minh của cả châu Âu".
Bắt đầu tác phẩm bằng phần thảo luận về cách phân công lao động, tác giả đã cứu xét nguồn gốc và công dụng của tiền tệ, giá cả của các loại hàng hóa, tiền công của lao động, lợi nhuận, địa tô, giá trị của bạc, sự phân biệt giữa lao động sản xuất và lao động phi sản xuất.
Kế tiếp là phần trình bày sự phát triển kinh tế của châu Âu kể từ khi Đế quốc La Mã sụp đổ, các phân tích và phê bình chính sách thương mại và thuộc địa của các quốc gia châu Âu, lợi tức quốc gia, các phương pháp quốc phòng và điều hành luật pháp của các xã hội sơ khai, nguồn gốc và sự phát triển của các đạo quân tại châu Âu, lịch sử giáo dục vào thời trung cổ, sự phát triển các món nợ công và cuối cùng là việc cứu xét các nguyên tắc thuế vụ và hệ thống thu ngân sách.
Tại phần V của bộ sách, Adam Smith đã phác họa bốn giai đoạn chính của cách tổ chức xã hội: thời kỳ nguyên thủy gồm những người thợ săn thô sơ, thời kỳ nông nghiệp du mục, thời kỳ canh tác phong kiến, và thời kỳ phụ thuộc lẫn nhau về thương mại. Đi kèm với mỗi thời kỳ là các thể chế thích hợp với các nhu cầu của thời ấy.
Luận đề chính của tác phẩm "Của cải" dựa trên niềm tin rằng "mỗi con người đều chính thức bị thúc động bởi tư lợi "mà điển hình là lòng ham muốn của cải. Các động lực ích kỷ là căn cốt của các hành động của con người. Adam Smith tin rằng tính ích kỷ cá nhân đã đêm tới lợi ích xã hội, rằng nếu mỗi người cố gắng làm lợi cho chính mình một cách đều đặn, không ngừng, thì sẽ dẫn tới sự thịnh vượng của quốc gia. Người hàng thịt, người nấu rượu, người làm bánh mì chỉ vì tư lợi của họ mà khiến cho chúng ta có bữa cơm ăn. Adam Smith còn cho rằng sự phân công lao động và tích lũy tư bản đã dẫn tới nền kỹ nghệ mới. Một "bàn tay vô hình" dẫn dắt con người trong khi làm việc có lợi cho mình thì đồng thời đã đóng góp lợi ích cho tập thể và về điểm này, Adam Smith đồng ý với Thomas Paine rằng "một chính quyền tốt nhất là loại chính quyền cai trị ít nhất".
Trong cách phân phối lao động, Adam Smith cho rằng nên phân chia tiến trình sản xuất thành các khâu đoạn nhờ đó gia tăng mức độ sản xuất. Trước vấn đề của giới chủ và công nhân, Adam Smith đã viết: "giới công nhân muốn đòi nhiều, giới chủ nhân muốn trả ít. Tác giả đã có cảm tình với giới công nhân bởi vì lương bổng cao sẽ khiến cho người công nhân ham hoạt động hơn, chăm chỉ hơn và hữu hiệu hơn. Đồng thời, tác giả còn cho rằng các luật lệ về thời gian học nghề là sự can thiệp bất công vào quyền lợi khi người công nhân ký hợp đồng làm việc, chọn nghề hay đổi nghề từ chỗ trả lương thấp tới nơi trả lương cao.
Phần chính của tác phẩm là quyển IV có tên là "Về các hệ thống kinh tế chính trị". Tại đây, tác giả cứu xét hai hệ thống: hệ thống thương mại và hệ thống nông nghiệp và phần nông nghiệp chỉ dày bằng 1/8 của phần thương mại. Adam Smith đã làm phát triển các nguyên tắc tự do kinh doanh và tất cả các hoạt động kinh tế dẫn tới tự do thương mại bên trong cũng như bên ngoài, bởi vì nhờ nền thương mại không bị giới hạn trong nước và ngoài nước mà một quốc gia có thể phát triển toàn diện.
Được Free_Wing sửa chữa / chuyển vào 00:14 ngày 13/04/2007

Kinh tế chính trị

"Kinh tế chính trị" chỉ nghệ thuật quản lý kinh tế của một quốc gia để phân biệt với "kinh tế? là việc quản lý gia đình (từ tiếng Anh "political? có nguồn gốc từ politike trong tiếng Hy Lạp nghĩa là lo việc nước, còn "economy? có nguồn gốc từ chữ oikonomia trong tiếng Hy Lạp nghĩa là quản lý gia đình. Political economy được dịch ra tiếng Việt là kinh tế chính trị). Có thể nói, kinh tế chính trị là kinh tế học dưới con mắt của chính khách. Học thuyết kinh tế chính trị có tính hệ thống đầu tiên là học thuyết của Adam Smith, nhà tư tưởng vĩ đại người Anh thế kỷ 18. Trong tác phẩm nổi tiếng Tìm hiểu về bản chất và nguồn gốc của cải của các quốc gia (1776) (thường được gọi tắt là Của cải của các quốc gia hay Quốc phú luận) [2], Adam Smith chỉ rõ:
?oPolitical economy considered as a branch of the science of a statesman or legislator proposes two distinct ob jects, first, *****pply a plentiful revenue or subsistence for the people, or more properly to enable them to provide such a revenue or subsistence for themselves; and secondly, *****pply the state or commonwealth with a revenue sufficient for the public service. It proposes to enrich both the people and the sovereign.?

Invisible Hand
Wikipedia

The invisible hand is a metaphor coined by Adam Smith to illustrate how those who seek wealth by following their individual self-interest, inadvertently stimulate the economy and assist society as a whole. In the general opinion, in The Wealth of Nations and other writings, Smith claims that, in capitalism, an individual pursuing his own good tends also to promote the good of his community, through a principle that he called ?othe invisible hand? of the market, which ensures that those activities most beneficial and efficient will naturally be those that are most profitable. The specific mechanism for this, Smith saw as being the free price system.[1]
The Wealth of Nations
Smith mentions the metaphor in Book IV of The Wealth of Nations, arguing that actors in any economy will employ their capital in foreign trading only if the profits available by that method far exceed those available locally, and that in that case it is better for society as a whole that he does so.
But the annual revenue of every society is always precisely equal to the exchangeable value of the whole annual produce of its industry, or rather is precisely the same thing with that exchangeable value. As every individual, therefore, endeavors as much as he can both to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry, and so to direct that industry that its produce may be of the greatest value; every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was not part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good. It is an affectation, indeed, not very common among merchants, and very few words need be employed in dissuading them from it.
(IV.ii.6-9, page 456 of the 1976 Glasgow E***ion of Smith?Ts works; vol. IV, ch. 2, p. 477 of 1976 U. of Chicago E***ion.)
Economists'' Interpretation of The Wealth of Nations quote
The concept of the Invisible Hand is nearly always generalized beyond Smith''s original discussion of domestic versus foreign trade. Smith himself participated in such generalization, as is already evident in his allusion to "many other cases", quoted above.
Notice that the invisible hand is here considered a natural inclination, not yet a social mechanism as it will be classified after Leon Walras and Vilfredo Pareto.
Many economists claim that the theory of the Invisible Hand states that if each consumer is allowed to choose freely what to buy and each producer is allowed to choose freely what to sell and how to produce it, the market will settle on a product distribution and prices that are beneficial to the entire community. The reason for this is that greed will drive actors to beneficial behavior. Efficient methods of production will be adopted in order to maximize profits. Low prices will be charged in order to undercut competitors. Investors will invest in those industries that are most urgently needed to maximize returns, and withdraw capital from those that are less efficient in creating value. Students will be guided to prepare for the most needed (and therefore most remunerative) careers. And all these effects will take place dynamically and automatically.
It also works as a balancing mechanism. For example, the inhabitants of a poor country will be willing to work very cheaply. Capitalists can make great profits by building factories in poor countries. But since they increase the demand for labor, they will increase its price. And since the new producers will also become consumers, local businesses will have to hire more people in order to provide for them the things that they want to consume. As this process continues, the labor prices will eventually rise to the point at which there is no advantage for the foreign countries doing business in the formerly poor country. Overall, this mechanism will cause the local economy to function on its own.
In The Wealth of Nations Smith provides a metaphor that illustrates the simplicity of the principle:
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of their fellow-citizens.
Understood as a metaphor
Smith uses the metaphor in the context of an argument against protectionism and government regulation of markets, but it is based on very broad principles developed by Bernard Mandeville, Bishop Butler, Lord Shaftesbury, and Francis Hutcheson. In general, the term ?oinvisible hand? can apply to any individual action that has unplanned, unintended consequences, particularly those which arise from actions not orchestrated by a central command and which have an observable, patterned effect on the community.
Bernard Mandeville claimed that private vices are actually public benefits. In The Fable of the Bees (1714), he laments that the ?obees of social virtue are buzzing in Man?Ts bonnet?: that civilized man has stigmatized his private appetites and the result is the retardation of the common good.
Bishop Butler claimed that pursuing the public good was the best way of advancing onê?Ts own good since the two were necessarily identical.
Lord Shaftesbury turned the convergence of public and private good around, claiming that acting in accordance with onê?Ts self-interest will produce socially beneficial results. An underlying unifying force that Shaftesbury called the ?oWill of Naturê? maintains equilibrium, congruency, and harmony. This force, if it is to operate freely, requires the individual pursuit of rational self-interest, and the preservation and advancement of the self.
Francis Hutcheson also accepted this convergence between public and private interest, but he attributed the mechanism, not to rational self-interest, but to personal intuition, which he called a ?omoral sensê?. Smith developed his own version of this general principle in which six psychological motives combine in each individual to produce the common good. In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, vol II, page 316, he says, ?oBy acting according to the dictates of our moral faculties, we necessarily pursue the most effective means for promoting the happiness of mankind.?
A contemporary example of such an effect could be the far-reaching social benefit realized via the proliferation of computers and commercial software; goods which have been produced almost entirely by people trying to maximize their own economic gain. Presumably those producers didn?Tt manufacture the computers and develop the software out of a love for humanity or an altruistic desire to promote society?Ts collective fortune. Any social benefits that have accrued therefore, according to Smith?Ts doctrine, are simply a by-product of their striving for selfish reward.
Contrary to common misconceptions, Smith did not assert that all self-interested labor necessarily benefits society, or that all public goods are produced through self-interested labor. His proposal is merely that in a free market, people usually tend to produce goods desired by their neighbours. The tragedy of the commons is an example where self-interest tends to bring an unwanted result.
Moreover, capitalism arguably provides numerous opportunities for maximizing onê?Ts own profit at the expense (rather than for the benefit) of others. The tobacco industry is often cited as an example of this: the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products certainly brings a very good revenue, but the industry?Ts critics deny that the social benefits (the pleasures associated with smoking, the camaraderie, the feeling of doing something ?ocool?) can possibly outbalance the social costs.
Examples and arguments
A very simple real world example of how the invisible hand is supposed to work is the queue for a shop checkout. Each customer getting in line selfishly chooses to maximize his own interest, that is to checkout in the shortest time, regardless of the other customers. Their utility maximizing choice is to get in queue in the shortest line, this means that eventually customers queue up in lines all of the same length. Therefore even without the slightest direction and by following only their selfishness, the lines are all of the same length, which is clearly the most efficient disposition.
Since Smith?Ts time, the principle of the invisible hand has been further incorporated into economic theory. Leon Walras developed a four equation general equilibrium model which concludes that individual self-interest operating in a competitive market place produces the unique con***ions under which a society?Ts total utility is maximized. Vilfredo Pareto used an edgeworth box contact line to illustrate a similar social optimality.
Ludwig von Mises, in Human Action (see note 3 at the bottom), claims that Smith believed that the invisible hand was that of God. He did not mean this as a criticism, since he held that secular reasoning leads to similar conclusions.
The invisible hand is tra***ionally understood as a concept in economics, but Robert Nozick argues in Anarchy, State and Utopia that substantively the same concept exists in a number of other areas of academic discourse under different names, notably Darwinian natural selection. In turn, Daniel Dennett has argued in Darwin?Ts Dangerous Idea that this represents a ?ouniversal acid? which may be applied to a number of seemingly disparate areas of philosophical enquiry (consciousness and free will in particular). See also Social Darwinism.
Other Usages of the Phrase
Adam Smith used the phrase two other times in his writings, once published and once unpublished. The unpublished reference simply says that practitioners of Polytheistic religions did not attribute gravity or fire to the invisible hand of Jupiter, and the idea clearly has no relation to the invisible hand of the market.
The other is in his published work, Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759). Here, Smith uses the invisible hand to explain the distribution of wealth. The invisible hand is active in economics because the landlord cannot consume all of the products himself and is thus forced to distribute them in exchange for work and for other goods.
Criticism
The American philosopher Noam Chomsky points out that Smith''s metaphor from this book is wildly taken out of context by many of today''s mainstream economists:
Let''s... keep to Adam Smith, a very important figure. He was pre-capitalist in his conceptions, and often quite interesting. For example, his basic argument for his rather nuanced views about markets: that under con***ions of liberty they would lead to equality, an obvious desideratum. Or his one use of the term "invisible hand" in "Wealth of Nations," in an argument for what economic historians call "home bias," in effect an argument against what is now called "neoliberalism" or "neoclassical economics." Smith argued that the English economy, what he cared about, would be wrecked if British capitalists were to invest abroad and import from abroad, but it would not be a problem, because "home bias" would lead them to invest at home and use domestically-produced goods, and therefore, by an "invisible hand," Britain would be saved from the ravages of international markets. Or his argument against division of labor, and insistence that in any civilized society, governments would intervene to constrain it, because it would turn working people into creatures as stupid and ignorant as a human creature can be -- essentially on von Humboldt''s assumptions. Yes, Smith is very much worth reading, whether one agrees with his interesting work or not. Reading, not worshipping on the basis of concocted mythology. [1]
Further, Adam Smith himself frequently warned in Wealth of Nations about how the invisible hand can lead to disastrous outcomes (as Chomsky pointed out [2]). For instance:
In the progress of the division of labour, the employment of the far greater part of those who live by labour, that is, of the great body of the people, comes to be confined to a few very simple operations, frequently to one or two. But the understandings of the greater part of men are necessarily formed by their ordinary employments. The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects are perhaps always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding or to exercise his invention in finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become. The torpor of his mind renders him not only incapable of relishing or bearing a part in any rational conversation, but of conceiving any generous, noble, or tender sentiment, and consequently of forming any just judgment concerning many even of the ordinary duties of private life. Of the great and extensive interests of his country he is altogether incapable of judging, and unless very particular pains have been taken to render him otherwise, he is equally incapable of defending his country in war. The uniformity of his stationary life naturally corrupts the courage of his mind, and makes him regard with abhorrence the irregular, uncertain, and adventurous life of a soldier. It corrupts even the activity of his body, and renders him incapable of exerting his strength with vigour and perseverance in any other employment than that to which he has been bred. His dexterity at his own particular trade seems, in this manner, to be acquired at the expence of his intellectual, social, and martial virtues. But in every improved and civilized society this is the state into which the labouring poor, that is, the great body of the people, must necessarily fall, unless government takes some pains to prevent it. [3]
Another critique could be that the actual grounds for the invisible hand "Every individual naturally inclines to employ his capital in the manner in which it is likely to afford the greatest support to domestic industry, and to give revenue and employment to the greatest number of people of his own country." is in public reduced to "Every individual naturally inclines to employ his capital in the manner in which it is likely to afford the greatest profit" and has most individuals acting accordingly, which does not include employing the greatest number of people in his own country with shortsighted profit-maximising strategies.

Bảo hiểm
Wikipedia

Khái niệm
Bảo hiểm là một cách thức trong quản trị [[rủi ro], thuộc nhóm biện pháp tài trợ rủi ro, được sử dụng để đối phó với những rủi ro có tổn thất, thường là tổn thất về tài chính, nhân mạng, ...
Bảo hiểm được xem như là một cách thức chuyển giao rủi ro tiềm năng một cách công bằng từ một cá thể sang cộng đồng thông qua phí bảo hiểm.
Có rất nhiều định nghĩa khác nhau về Bảo hiểm được xây dựng dựa trên từng góc độ nghiên cứu ( xã hội, pháp lý, kinh tế, kĩ thuật nghiệp vụ...)
Định nghĩa 1: "Bảo hiểm là sự đóng góp của số đông vào sự bất hạnh của số ít"
Định nghĩa 2: "Bảo hiểm là một nghiệp vụ qua đó, một bên là người được bảo hiểm cam đoan trả một khoản tiền gọi là phí bảo hiểm thực hiện mong muốn để cho mình hoặc để cho một người thứ 3 trong trường hợp xẩy ra rủi ro sẽ nhận được một khoản đền bù các tổn thất được trả bởi một bên khác: đó là người bảo hiểm. Người bảo hiểm nhận trách nhiệm đối với toàn bộ rủi ro và đền bù các thiệt hại theo các phương pháp của thống kê"
Định nghĩa 3: "Bảo hiểm có thể định nghĩa là một phương sách hạ giảm rủi ro bằng cách kết hợp một số lượng đầy đủ các đơn vị đối tượng để biến tổn thất cá thể thành tổn thất cộng đồng và có thể dự tính được" Các định nghĩa trên thường thiên về một góc độ nghiên cứu nào đó ( hoặc thiên về xã hội-định nghĩ 1, hoặc thiên về kinh tế, luật pháp - định nghĩa 2, hoặc thiên về kỹ thuật tính - định nghĩa 3 ) .
Theo các chuyên gia Pháp, một định nghĩa vừa đáp ứng được khía cạnh xã hội (dùng cho bảo hiểm xã hội) vừa đáp ứng được khía cạnh kinh tế (dùng cho bảo hiểm thương mại) và vừa đầy đủ về khía cạnh kỹ thuật và pháp lý có thể phát biểu như sau:
"Bảo hiểm là một hoạt động qua đó một cá nhân có quyền được hưởng trợ cấp nhờ vào một khoản đóng góp cho mình hoặc cho người thứ 3 trong trường hợp xảy ra rủi ro. Khoản trợ cấp này do một tổ chức trả, tổ chức này có trách nhiệm đối với toàn bộ các rủi ro và đền bù các thiệt hại theo các phương pháp của thống kê"
Một số vấn đề đang còn tranh cãi
Hợp đồng bảo hiểm có quá nhiều các điều khỏan loại trừ
Khi rủi ro xảy ra, trong một số trường hợp đã xảy ra mâu thuẫn, không thống nhất giữa người được bảo hiểm và công ty bảo hiễm. Ở những trường hợp này, công ty bảo hiểm từ chối chi trả tiền bồi thường, trong khi người được bảo hiểm lại cho rằng họ có quyền lợi được chi trả tiền bảo hiểm.
Trong quá trình tiến hành bồi thường thiệt hại cho khách hàng-nhận đơn yêu cầu bồi thường từ khách hàng, các công ty bảo hiểm có thể nhận thấy rằng những rủi ro mà khách hàng của họ khai báo không hòan toàn đúng với thực tế, hoặc rõ ràng không hợp lý. Đây có thể được xem là một hành vi trục lợi bảo hiểm. Để tránh những nguy cơ người được bảo hiểm cố tình làm tăng tổn thất so với thực tế, các nhà bảo hiểm đã đưa ra những điều khoản hợp đồng để giới hạn trách nhiệm bảo hiểm của mình trong hợp đồng bảo hiểm đó. Ví dụ: trong hợp đồng bảo hiểm trách nhiệm,nhà bảo hiểm không bảo hiểm cho trường hợp " cố ý" của người tham gia bảo hiểm. Thậm chí, nếu nhà bảo hiểm cố tính không đưa điều khỏan này vào hợp đồng, thì sẽ bị coi là hợp đồng bất hợp pháp, bởi như vậy là trái với điều khỏan hợp đồng của phần lớn các nước trên thế giới.
Hợp đồng bảo hiểm là một tài liệu đuợc soạn thảo rất kỹ, nó bao gồm tất cả các thông tin về người được bảo hiểm, chi trả bồi thường, trách nhiệm của người được bảo hiểm, bên mua bảo hiểm và công ty bảo hiểm, cũng như số tiền người được bảo hiểm nhận được nếu như kết thúc sớm hợp đồng trước thời hạn (trong trường hợp bảo hiểm nhân thọ). Vì vậy, đễ tránh hiễu lầm và mâu thuẫn trong việc bồi thường, cchi trả cũng như kết thúc hợp đồng bảo hiểm, các tư vấn viên bảo hiểm cần tư vấn rõ ràng cho khách hàng. Đối với người mua bảo hiễm, việc nghiên cứu kỹ các điều khoản trong hợp đồng cũng là việc rất thiết khi quyết định mua một sản phẩm bảo vệ tài chính.
So sánh với cá cược
Một số người cho rằng việc tham gia bảo hiểm cũng giống như một loại cá cược. Công ty bảo hiểm sẽ đặt cược rằng bạn hoặc tài sản của bạn sẽ không phải gánh chịu tổn thất trong khi bạn đang sử dụng tiền vào việc khác. Có thể hiểu một cách đại khái rằng: sự chênh lệch giữa phí bảo hiểm và khoản tiền giới hạn trách nhiệm của công ty bảo hiểm được tính theo tỉ lệ ( tương tự như việc chơi cá ngựa với tỉ lệ 10:1). Chính vì lí do này, rất nhiều các nhóm tôn giáo (bao gồm Amish và Hồi giáo) đã không tham gia bảo hiểm, thay vào đó họ trông chờ vào sự hỗ trợ của cộng đồng khi có thảm họa xảy ra. Hay nói cách khác, cộng đồng này sẽ hỗ trợ họ phục hồi lại tổn thất bị mất.
Tuy nhiên, cách thức này không hỗ trợ một cách hiệu quả đối với các rủi ro lớn. Ngay cả các công ty bảo hiểm ở Phương Tây cũng gặp khó khăn khi đối phó với các rủi ro lớn. Ví dụ như lũ lụt xảy ra sẽ làm ảnh hưởng đến gần như toàn bộ thành phố, và công ty bảo hiểm sẽ gặp rất nhiều khó khăn khi phải thực hiện việc bồi thường. Ví dụ điển hình đó là lũ lụt ở New Orleans, 2005. Tương tự, các tổn thẩt do chiến tranh và động đất cũng bị loại trừ. Tuy nhiên, vẫn có thể bảo hiểm cho những tổn thất lũ lụt và động đất thông qua hình thức tái bải hiểm .
Trong các trò chơi cá cước, thì mức tỉ lệ đã được xác định ngay từ đầu trò chơi và không chịu tác động bởi người chơi. Còn đối với việc tham gia bảo hiểm, ví dụ như bảo hiểm cháy, người tham gia bảo hiểm được yêu cầu là phải tìm cách giảm thiểu rủi ro: lắp các thiết bị báo cháy và sử dụng các vật liệu chống cháy để giảm thiểu những tổn thất gây ra bởi cháy. Bên cạnh đó, doanh nghiệp bảo hiểm cũng giúp thực hiện việc giảm thiểu tổn thất khi có rủi ro gây nên.
Như vây, bảo hiểm tương tự như cá cược ở góc độ rủi ro, nhưng có sự khác biệt về động cơ (tìm kiếm rủi ro hay tránh né rủi ro). Đối với trò cá cược, bạn không có sự lựa chọn nào khác hoặc thua hoặc thắng. Nhưng đối với bảo hiểm, bạn có thể quản lí rủi ro mà bạn không thể nào tránh được hoặc rủi ro thuần túy mà bạn không đoán trước được khả năng xảy ra. Quản trị rủi ro là việc xác định và kiểm soát rủi ro. Tránh né, giảm thiểu hay chuyển giao rủi ro là cách thức tạo sự dự đoán tốt hơn cho người tiêu dùng hay doanh nghiệp để họ đạt tối đa lợi ích trong các cơ hội của mình.
Cá cược cũng được xem là loại rủi ro không được bảo hiểm.

Insurance
Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a potential loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium. Insurer, in economics, is the company that sells the insurance. Insurance rate is a factor used to determine the amount, called the premium, to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage. Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete field of study and practice.
Principles of insurance
Commercially insurable risks typically share seven common characteristics. [1]
1. A large number of homogeneous exposure units. The vast majority of insurance policies are provided for individual members of very large classes. Automobile insurance, for example, covered about 175 million automobiles in the United States in 2004. The existence of a large number of homogeneous exposure units allows insurers to benefit from the so-called â?olaw of large numbers,â? which in effect states that as the number of exposure units increases, the actual results are increasingly likely to become close to expected results. There are exceptions to this criterion. Lloyds of London is famous for insuring the life or health of actors, actresses and sports figures. Satellite Launch insurance covers events that are infrequent. Large commercial property policies may insure exceptional properties for which there are no â?~homogeneousâ?T exposure units. Despite failing on this criterion, many exposures like these are generally considered to be insurable.

2. Definite Loss. The event that gives rise to the loss that is subject to insurance should, at least in principle, take place at a known time, in a known place, and from a known cause. The classic example is death of an insured on a life insurance policy. Fire, automobile accidents, and worker injuries may all easily meet this criterion. Other types of losses may only be definite in theory. Occupational disease, for instance, may involve prolonged exposure to injurious con***ions where no specific time, place or cause is identifiable. Ideally, the time, place and cause of a loss should be clear enough that a reasonable person, with sufficient information, could ob jectively verify all three elements.

3. Accidental Loss. The event that constitutes the trigger of a claim should be fortuitous, or at least outside the control of the beneficiary of the insurance. The loss should be â?~pure,â?T in the sense that it results from an event for which there is only the opportunity for cost. Events that contain speculative elements, such as ordinary business risks, are generally not considered insurable.

4. Large Loss. The size of the loss must be meaningful from the perspective of the insured. Insurance premiums need to cover both the expected cost of losses, plus the cost of issuing and administering the policy, adjusting losses, and supplying the capital needed to reasonably assure that the insurer will be able to pay claims. For small losses these latter costs may be several times the size of the expected cost of losses. There is little point in paying such costs unless the protection offered has real value to a buyer.
5. Affordable Premium. If the likelihood of an insured event is so high, or the cost of the event so large, that the resulting premium is large relative to the amount of protection offered, it is not likely that anyone will buy insurance, even if on offer. Further, as the accounting profession formally recognizes in financial accounting standards (See FAS 113 for example), the premium cannot be so large that there is not a reasonable chance of a significant loss to the insurer. If there is no such chance of loss, the transaction may have the form of insurance, but not the substance.
6. Calculable Loss. There are two elements that must be at least estimatable, if not formally calculable: the probability of loss, and the attendant cost. Probability of loss is generally an empirical exercise, while cost has more to do with the ability of a reasonable person in possession of a copy of the insurance policy and a proof of loss associated with a claim presented under that policy to make a reasonably definite and ob jective evaluation of the amount of the loss recoverable as a result of the claim.
7. Limited risk of catastrophically large losses. The essential risk is often aggregation. If the same event can cause losses to numerous policyholders of the same insurer, the ability of that insurer to issue policies becomes constrained, not by factors surrounding the individual characteristics of a given policyholder, but by the factors surrounding the sum of all policyholders so exposed. Typically, insurers prefer to limit their exposure to a loss from a single event to some small portion of their capital base, on the order of 5%. Where the loss can be aggregated, or an individual policy could produce exceptionally large claims, the capital constraint will restrict an insurers appetite for ad***ional policyholders. The classic example is earthquake insurance, where the ability of an underwriter to issue a new policy depends on the number and size of the policies that it has already underwritten. Wind insurance in hurricane zones, particularly along coast lines, is another example of this phenomenon. In extreme cases, the aggregation can effect the entire industry, since the combined capital of insurers and reinsurers can be small compared to the needs of potential policyholders in areas exposed to aggregation risk. In commercial fire insurance it is possible to find single properties whose total exposed value is well in excess of any individual insurerâ?Ts capital constraint. Such properties are generally shared among several insurers, or are insured by a single insurer who syndicates the risk into the reinsurance market.
Indemnification
An entity seeking to transfer risk (an individual, corporation, or association of any type, etc.) becomes the ''insured'' party once risk is assumed by an ''insurer'', the insuring party, by means of a contract, called an insurance ''policy''. Generally, an insurance contract includes, at a minimum, the following elements: the parties (the insurer, the insured, the beneficiaries), the premium, the period of coverage, the particular loss event covered, the amount of coverage (i.e., the amount to be paid to the insured or beneficiary in the event of a loss), and exclusions (events not covered). An insured is thus said to be "indemnified" against the loss events covered in the policy.
When insured parties experience a loss for a specified peril, the coverage entitles the policyholder to make a ''claim'' against the insurer for the covered amount of loss as specified by the policy. The fee paid by the insured to the insurer for assuming the risk is called the ''premium''. Insurance premiums from many insureds are used to fund accounts reserved for later payment of claimsâ?"in theory for a relatively few claimantsâ?"and for overhead costs. So long as an insurer maintains adequate funds set aside for anticipated losses (i.e., reserves), the remaining margin is an insurer''s profit.

When is a Policy Really Insurance?
An operational definition of insurance is that it is


the benefit provided by a particular kind of indemnity contract, called an insurance policy;

that is issued by one of several kinds of legal entities (stock company, mutual company, reciprocal, or Lloyds organization, for example), any of which may be called an insurer;

in which the insurer promises to pay on behalf of or to indemnify another party, called a policyholder or insured;

that protects the insured against loss caused by those perils subject to the indemnity in exchange for consideration known as an insurance premium.
In recent years this kind of operational definition proved inadequate as a result of contracts that had the form but not the substance of insurance. The essence of insurance is the transfer of risk from the insured to one or more insurers. How much risk a contract actually transfers proved to be at the heart of the controversy.
This issue arose most clearly in reinsurance, where the use of Financial Reinsurance to reengineer insurer balance sheets under US GAAP became fashionable during the 1980''s. The accounting profession raised serious concerns about the use of reinsurance in which little if any actual risk was transferred, and went on to address the issue in FAS 113, cited above. While on its face, FAS 113 is limited to accounting for reinsurance transactions, the guidance it contains is generally conceded to be equally applicable to US GAAP accounting for insurance transactions executed by commericial enterprises.

Does the Contract Contain Adequate Risk Transfer?
FAS 113 contains two tests, called the ''9a and 9b tests,'' that collectively require that a contract create a reasonable chance of a significant loss to the underwriter for it to be considered insurance.

9. Indemnification of the ceding enterprise against loss or liability relating to insurance risk in reinsurance of short-duration contracts requires both of the following, unless the con***ion in paragraph 11 is met:

a. The reinsurer assumes significant insurance risk under the reinsured portions of the underlying insurance contracts.

b. It is reasonably possible that the reinsurer may realize a significant loss from the transaction.
Paragraph 10 of FAS 113 makes clear that the 9a and 9b tests are based on comparing the present value of all costs to the PV of all income streams. FAS gives no guidance on the choice of a discount rate on which to base such a calculation, other than to say that all outcomes tested should use the same rate.
Statement of Statutory Accounting Principles ("SSAP") 62, issued by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, applies to so-called ''statutory accounting'' - the accounting for insurance enterprises to conform with regulation. Paragraph 12 of SSAP 62 is nearly identical to the FAS 113 test, while paragraph 14, which is otherwise very similar to paragraph 10 of FAS 113, ad***ionally contains a justification for the use of a single fixed rate for discounting purposes. The choice of an "reasonable and appropriate" discount rate is left as a matter of judgement.

Is There a Brightline Test?
Neither FAS 113 nor SAP 62 defines the terms "reasonable" or "significant." Ideally, one would like to be able *****bstitute values for both terms. It would be much simpler if one could apply a test of an X% chance of a loss of Y% or greater. Such tests have been proposed, including one famously attributed to an SEC official who is said to have opined in an after lunch talk that a 10% chance of a 10% loss was sufficient to establish both reasonableness and significance. Indeed, many insurers and reinsurers still apply this "10/10" test as a benchmark for risk transfer testing.
It should be obvious that an attempt to use any numerical rule such as the 10/10 test will quickly run into problems. Suppose a contract has a 1% chance of a 10,000% loss? It should be reasonably self-evident that such a contract is insurance, but it fails one half of the 10/10 test. It does not appear that any "brightline" test of reasonableness nor signifance can be constructed.
Excess of loss contracts, like those commonly used for umbrella and general liability insurance, or to insure against property losses, will typically have a low ratio of premium paid to maximum loss recoverable. This ratio (expressed as a percentage), commonly called the "rate on line" for historical reasons related to underwriting practices at Lloyds of London, will typically be low for contracts that contain reasonably self-evident risk transfer. As the ratio increases to approximate the present value of the limit of coverage, self-evidence decreases and disappears.
Contracts with low rates on line may survive modest features that limit the amount of risk transferred. As rates on line increase, such risk limiting features become increasingly important.

"Safe Harbor Exemptions"
The analysis of reasonableness and signifiance is an estimate of the probability of different gain or loss outcomes under different loss scenarios. It takes time and resources to perform the analysis, which constitutes a burden without value where risk transfer is reasonably self-evident.
Guidance exists for insurers and reinsurers, whose CEO''s and CFO''s attest annually as to the reinsurance agreements their firms undertake. The American Academy of Actuaries, for instance, identifies three categories of contract as outside the requirement of attestation:


Inactive contracts. If there are no premiums due nor losses payable, and the insurer is not taking any cre*** for the reinsurance, determining risk transfer is irrelevant.

Pre-1994 contracts. The attestation requirement only applies to contracts that were entered into, renewed or amended on or after 1 January 1994. Prior contracts need not be analyzed.

Where risk transfer is "reasonably self-evident."

"Risk transfer is reasonably self-evident in most tra***ional per-risk or per-occurrence excess of loss reinsurance contracts. For these contracts, a predetermined amount of premium is paid and the reinsurer assumes nearly all or all of the potential variablility in the underlying losses, and it is evident from reading the basic terms of the contract that the reinsurer can incur a significant loss. In many cases, there is no aggregate limit on the reinsurer''s loss. The existence of certain experience-based contract terms, such as experience accounts, profit commissions, and ad***ional premiums, generally reduce the amount of risk transfer and make it less likely that risk transfer is reaonably self-evident."







- "Reinsurance Attestation Supplement 20-1: Risk Transfer Testing Practice Note," American Academy of Actuaries, November 2005.

Risk Limiting Features
An insurance policy should not contain provisions that allow one side or the other to unilaterally void the contract in exchange for benefit. Provisions that void the contract for failure to perform or for fraud or material misrepresentation are ordinary and acceptable.
The policy should have a term of not more than about three years. This is not a hard and fast rule. Contracts of over five years duration are classified as â?~long-term,â?T which can impact the accounting treatment, and can obviously introduce the possibility that over the entire term of the contract, no actual risk will transfer. The coverage provided by the contract need not cease at the end of the term (e.g., the contract can cover occurrences as opposed to claims made or claims paid).
The contract should be considered to include any other agreements, written or oral, that confer rights, create obligations, or create benefits on the part of either or both parties. Ideally, the contract should contain an â?~Entire Agreementâ?T clause that assures there are no undisclosed written or oral side agreements that confer rights, create obligations, or create benefits on the part of either or both parties. If such rights, obligations or benefits exist, they must be factored into the tests of reasonableness and significance.
The contract should not contain arbitrary limitations on timing of payments. Provisions that assure both parties of time to properly present and consider claims are acceptable provided they are commercially reasonable and customary.
Provisions that expressly create actual or notional accounts that accrue actual or notional interest suggest that the contract contains, in fact, a deposit.
Provisions for ad***ional or return premium do not, in and of themselves, render a contract something other than insurance. However, it should be unlikely that either a return or ad***ional premium provision be triggered, and neither party should have discretion regarding the timing of such triggering.
All of the events that would give rise to claims under the contract cannot have materialized prior to the inception of the contract. If this "all events" test is not met, then the contract is considered to be a retroactive contract, for which the accounting treatment becomes complex.

Insurerâ?Ts business model
Profit = earned premium + investment income - incurred loss - underwriting expenses.
Insurers make money in two ways: (1) through underwriting, the process by which insurers select the risks to insure and decide how much in premiums to charge for accepting those risks and (2) by investing the premiums they collect from insureds.
The most difficult aspect of the insurance business is the underwriting of policies. Using a wide assortment of data, insurers predict the likelihood that a claim will be made against their policies and price products accordingly. To this end, insurers use actuarial science to quantify the risks they are willing to assume and the premium they will charge to assume them. Data is analyzed to fairly accurately project the rate of future claims based on a given risk. Actuarial science uses statistics and probability to analyze the risks associated with the range of perils covered, and these scientific principles are used to determine an insurer''s overall exposure. Upon termination of a given policy, the amount of premium collected and the investment gains thereon minus the amount paid out in claims is the insurer''s underwriting profit on that policy. Of course, from the insurer''s perspective, some policies are winners (i.e., the insurer pays out less in claims and expenses than it receives in premiums and investment income) and some are losers (i.e., the insurer pays out more in claims and expenses than it receives in premiums and investment income).
An insurer''s underwriting performance is measured in its combined ratio. The loss ratio (incurred losses and loss-adjustment expenses divided by net earned premium) is added to the expense ratio (underwriting expenses divided by net premium written) to determine the company''s combined ratio. The combined ratio is a reflection of the company''s overall underwriting profitability. A combined ratio of less than 100 percent indicates profitability, while anything over 100 indicates a loss.
Insurance companies also earn investment profits on â?ofloatâ?. â?oFloatâ? or available reserve is the amount of money, at hand at any given moment, that an insurer has collected in insurance premiums but has not been paid out in claims. Insurers start investing insurance premiums as soon as they are collected and continue to earn interest on them until claims are paid out.
In the United States, the underwriting loss of property and casualty insurance companies was $142.3 billion in the five years ending 2003. But overall profit for the same period was $68.4 billion, as the result of float. Some insurance industry insiders, most notably Hank Greenberg, do not believe that it is forever possible *****stain a profit from float without an underwriting profit as well, but this opinion is not universally held. Naturally, the â?ofloatâ? method is difficult to carry out in an economically depressed period. Bear markets do cause insurers to shift away from investments and to toughen up their underwriting standards. So a poor economy generally means high insurance premiums. This tendency to swing between profitable and unprofitable periods over time is commonly known as the "underwriting" or "insurance" cycle. [2]
Property and casualty insurers currently make the most money from their auto insurance line of business. Generally better statistics are available on auto losses and underwriting on this line of business has benefited greatly from advances in computing. Ad***ionally, property losses in the US, due to natural catastrophes, have exacerbated this trend.
Finally, claims and loss handling is the materialized utility of insurance. In managing the claims-handling function, insurers seek to balance the elements of customer satisfaction, administrative handling expenses, and claims overpayment leakages. As part of this balancing act, insurance fraud is a major business risk that must be managed and overcome.

Gambling analogy
Both gambling and insurance transfer risk and reward. The similarity ends there.
Gambling transactions offer the possibility of either a loss or a gain. Gambling creates losers and winners. Insurance transactions do not present the possibility of gain. Insurance offers financial support sufficient to replace loss, not to create pure gain.
Gamblers can continue spending, buying more risk than they can afford to pay for. Insurance buyers can only spend up to the limit of what carriers will accept to insure; their loss is limited to the amount of the premium.
Gambling can create losses that go so far as to damage a gambler''s finances. Gambling can hurt people. Insurance reduces financial burdens that can otherwise hurt individuals beyond their point of recovery. Insurance provides money to insured people in need when their need is greatest, i.e. after a loss.
Gambling, creating losers and winners, offers no support to losers. Family and society as a whole can thus be brought down to a slightly lower average financial level. Insurance payouts are beneficial to society at large as well as to the individual receiving the benefit directly, since there is no new category created of losers. When an insured loss occurs, money is provided to rebuild what already once existed, or to compensate financially for an irreversible loss.
Gambling redistributes money without regard to recipients'' ability or responsibility. Gambing creates both losers and winners without regard to the winners'' handling of money. Insurance gives money to those who have already achieved the level of financial responsibility to be able to pay premiums and the foresight to avoid the consequences of large losses.
Gambling increases risk. It creates new risks that do not need to exist. Insurance takes existing risk into a transaction enabling an insured to reduce large risk that can not otherwise be avoided.
Gamblers create a risk that may have no link whatsoever to their personal and family situation. Insurance buyers must have an insurable interest in the insurance transaction. Insurance transactions are built around an exogenous relationship, usually economic or familial.
Gamblers, by creating new risk transfer without regard to existing risk, are risk seekers. Insurance buyers are risk avoiders, creating risk transfer in terms of their need to reduce exposure to large losses.
Gambling or gaming is designed at the start so that the odds are not affected by the players (their conduct or behavior). However, to obtain certain types of insurance, such as fire insurance, policyholders can be required to conduct risk mitigation practices, such as installing sprinklers and using fireproof building materials to reduce the odds of loss to fire. In ad***ion, after a proven loss, insurers specialize in providing rehabilitation to minimize the total loss.
Historically, gambling has been considered an uninsurable risk. Recent developments, however, have led to the invention and patenting of new types of insurance to protect against gambling losses. An example is United States Patent 6,869,362, "Method and apparatus for providing insurance policies for gambling losses."
Insurance, the avoiding, mitigating and transferring of risk, creates greater predictability for individuals and organizations. Insurance enables risk to be handled intelligently to achieve stability and growth.

History of insurance

In some sense we can say that insurance appears simultaneously with the appearance of human society. We know of two types of economies in human societies: money economies (with markets, money, financial instruments and so on) and non-money or natural economies (without money, markets, financial instruments and so on). The second type is a more ancient form than the first. In such an economy and community, we can see insurance in the form of people helping each other. For example, if a house burns down, the members of the community help build a new one. Should the same thing happen to one''s neighbour, the other neighbours must help. Otherwise, neighbours will not receive help in the future. This type of insurance has survived to the present day in some countries where modern money economy with its financial instruments is not widespread (for example countries in the territory of the former Soviet Union).
Turning to insurance in the modern sense (i.e., insurance in a modern money economy, in which insurance is part of the financial sphere), early methods of transferring or distributing risk were practiced by Chinese and Babylonian traders as long ago as the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, respectively. Chinese merchants traveling treacherous river rapids would redistribute their wares across many vessels to limit the loss due to any single vessel''s capsizing. The Babylonians developed a system which was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi, c. 1750 BC, and practiced by early Me***erranean sailing merchants. If a merchant received a loan to fund his shipment, he would pay the lender an ad***ional sum in exchange for the lender''s guarantee to cancel the loan should the shipment be stolen.
Achaemenian monarchs were the first to insure their people and made it official by registering the insuring process in governmental notary offices. The insurance tra***ion was performed each year in Norouz (beginning of the Iranian New Year); the heads of different ethnic groups as well as others willing to take part, presented gifts to the monarch. The most important gift was presented during a special ceremony. When a gift was worth more than 10,000 Derrik (Achaemenian gold coin weighing 8.35-8.42) the issue was registered in a special office. This was advantageous to those who presented such special gifts. For others, the presents were fairly assessed by the confidants of the court. Then the assessment was registered in special offices.
The purpose of registering was that whenever the person who presented the gift registered by the court was in trouble, the monarch and the court would help him. Jahez, a historian and writer, writes in one of his books on ancient Iran: "[W]henever the owner of the present is in trouble or wants to construct a building, set up a feast, have his children married, etc. the one in charge of this in the court would check the registration. If the registered amount exceeded 10,000 Derrik, he or she would receive an amount of twice as much."
A thousand years later, the inhabitants of Rhodes invented the concept of the ''general average''. Merchants whose goods were being shipped together would pay a proportionally divided premium which would be used to reimburse any merchant whose goods were jettisoned during storm or sinkage.
The Greeks and Romans introduced the origins of health and life insurance c. 600 AD when they organized guilds called "benevolent societies" which cared for the families and paid funeral expenses of members upon death. Guilds in the Middle Ages served a similar purpose. The Talmud deals with several aspects of insuring goods. Before insurance was established in the late 17th century, "friendly societies" existed in England, in which people donated amounts of money to a general sum that could be used for emergencies.
Separate insurance contracts (i.e., insurance policies not bundled with loans or other kinds of contracts) were invented in Genoa in the 14th century, as were insurance pools backed by pledges of landed estates. These new insurance contracts allowed insurance to be separated from investment, a separation of roles that first proved useful in marine insurance. Insurance became far more sophisticated in post-Renaissance Europe, and specialized varieties developed.
Toward the end of the seventeenth century, London''s growing importance as a center for trade increased demand for marine insurance. In the late 1680s, Mr. Edward Lloyd opened a coffee house that became a popular haunt of ship owners, merchants, and shipsâ?T captains, and thereby a reliable source of the latest shipping news. It became the meeting place for parties wishing to insure cargoes and ships, and those willing to underwrite such ventures. Today, Lloyd''s of London remains the leading market (note that it is not an insurance company) for marine and other specialist types of insurance, but it works rather differently than the more familiar kinds of insurance.
Insurance as we know it today can be traced to the Great Fire of London, which in 1666 devoured 13,200 houses. In the aftermath of this disaster, Nicholas Barbon opened an office to insure buildings. In 1680, he established England''s first fire insurance company, "The Fire Office," to insure brick and frame homes.
The first insurance company in the United States underwrote fire insurance and was formed in Charles Town (modern-day Charleston), South Carolina, in 1732.
Benjamin Franklin helped to popularize and make standard the practice of insurance, particularly against fire in the form of perpetual insurance. In 1752, he founded the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire. Franklin''s company was the first to make contributions toward fire prevention. Not only did his company warn against certain fire hazards, it refused to insure certain buildings where the risk of fire was too great, such as all wooden houses.
In the United States, regulation of the insurance industry is highly Balkanized, with primary responsibility assumed by individual state insurance departments. Whereas insurance markets have become centralized nationally and internationally, state insurance commissioners operate individually, though at times in concert through a national insurance commissioners'' organization. In recent years, some have called for a dual state and federal regulatory system for insurance similar to that which oversees state banks and national banks.
In the state of New York, which has unique laws in keeping with its stature as a global business center, former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was in a unique position to grapple with major national insurance brokerages. Spitzer alleged that Marsh & McLennan steered business to insurance carriers based on the amount of contingent commissions that could be extracted from carriers, rather than basing decisions on whether carriers had the best deals for clients. Several of the largest commercial insurance brokerages have since stopped accepting contingent commissions and have adopted new business models.

Types of insurance

Any risk that can be quantified can potentially be insured. Among the different types of commercially available insurance are:
* Automobile insurance, known in the UK as motor insurance, is probably the most common form of insurance and may cover both legal liability claims against the driver and loss of or damage to the insured''s vehicle itself. Throughout most of the United States an auto insurance policy is required to legally operate a motor vehicle on public roads. In some jurisdictions, bodily injury compensation for automobile accident victims has been changed to a no fault system, which reduces or eliminates the ability *****e for compensation but provides automatic eligibility for benefits.
* Aviation insurance insures against hull, spares, deductible, hull war and liability risks.
* Boiler insurance (also known as boiler and machinery insurance or equipment breakdown insurance) insures against accidental physical damage to equipment or machinery.
* Builder''s risk insurance insures against the risk of physical loss or damage to property during construction. Builder''s risk insurance is typically written on an "all risk" basis covering damage due to any cause (including the negligence of the insured) not otherwise expressly excluded.
* Casualty insurance insures against accidents, not necessarily tied to any specific property.
* Cre*** insurance repays some or all of a loan back when certain things happen to the borrower such as unemployment, disability, or death.
* Crime insurance insures the policyholder against losses arising from the criminal acts of third parties. For example, a company can obtain crime insurance to cover losses arising from theft or embezzlement.
* Crop insurance "Farmers use crop insurance to reduce or manage various risks associated with growing crops. Such risks include crop loss or damage caused by weather, hail, drought, frost damage, insects, or disease, for instance."[3]
* Defense Base Act Workers'' compensation or DBA Insurance insurance provides coverage for civilian workers hired by the government to perform contracts outside the US and Canada. DBA is required for all US citizens, US residents, US Green Card holders, and all employees or subcontractors hired on overseas government contracts. Depending on the country, Foreign Nationals must also be covered under DBA. This coverage typically includes expenses related to medical treatment and loss of wages, as well as disability and death benefits.
* Directors and officers liability insurance protects an organization (usually a corporation) from costs associated with litigation resulting from mistakes incurred by directors and officers for which they are liable. In the industry, it is usually called "D&O" for short.
* Expatriate insurance provides individuals and organizations operating outside of their home country with protection for automobiles, property, health, liability and business pursuits.
* Financial loss insurance protects individuals and companies against various financial risks. For example, a business might purchase cover to protect it from loss of sales if a fire in a factory prevented it from carrying out its business for a time. Insurance might also cover the failure of a cre***or to pay money it owes to the insured. This type of insurance is frequently referred to as "business interruption insurance." Fidelity bonds and surety bonds are included in this category, although these products provide a benefit to a third party (the "obligee") in the event the insured party (usually referred to as the "obligor") fails to perform its obligations under a contract with the obligee.
* Health insurance policies will often cover the cost of private medical treatments if the National Health Service in the UK (NHS) or other publicly-funded health programs do not pay for them. It will often result in quicker health care where better facilities are available.
* Disability insurance policies provide financial support in the event the policyholder is unable to work because of disabling illness or injury. It provides monthly support to help pay such obligations as mortgages and cre*** cards.
* Liability insurance covers legal claims against the insured. For example, a homeowner''s insurance policy will normally include liability coverage which will protect the insured in the event of a claim brought by someone who slips and falls on the property, and brings a lawsuit for her injuries. Similarly, a doctor may purchase liability insurance to cover any legal claims against him if his negligence (carelessness) in treating a patient caused the patient injury and monetary harm. The protection offered by a liability insurance policy is twofold: a legal defense in the event of a lawsuit commenced against the policyholder and indemnification (payment on behalf of the insured) with respect to a settlement or court verdict. Liability policies typically cover only the negligence of the insured, and will not apply to results of willful or intentional acts by the insured.
* Marine cargo insurance covers physical loss or damage to property while in transit via sea or inland waterways. Marine insurance typically refers to coverage of physical damage to the transporting vessel. Many marine insurance underwriters will include "time element" coverage in such policies, which extends the indemnity to cover loss of profit and other business expenses attributable to the delay caused by a covered loss.
* Purchase insurance is aimed at providing protection on the products people purchase. Purchase insurance can cover individual purchase protection, warranties, guarantees, care plans and even mobile phone insurance. Such insurance is normally very limited in the scope of problems that are covered by the policy.
* Life insurance provides a monetary benefit to a decedent''s family or other designated beneficiary, and may specifically provide for burial, funeral and other final expenses. Life insurance policies often allow the option of having the proceeds paid to the beneficiary either in a lump sum cash payment or an annuity.
o Annuities provide a stream of payments and are generally classified as insurance because they are issued by insurance companies and regulated as insurance and require the same kinds of actuarial and investment management expertise that life insurance requires. Annuities and pensions that pay a benefit for life are sometimes regarded as insurance against the possibility that a retiree will outlive his or her financial resources. In that sense, they are the complement of life insurance and, from an underwriting perspective, are the mirror image of life insurance.
* Total permanent disability insurance insurance provides benefits when a person is permanently disabled and can no longer work in their profession, often taken as an adjunct to life insurance.
* Locked funds insurance is a little-known hybrid insurance policy jointly issued by governments and banks. It is used to protect public funds from tamper by unauthorised parties. In special cases, a government may authorise its use in protecting semi-private funds which are liable to tamper. The terms of this type of insurance are usually very strict. Therefore it is used only in extreme cases where maximum security of funds is required.
* Marine insurance covers the loss or damage of goods at sea. Marine insurance typically compensates the owner of merchandise for losses sustained from fire, shipwreck, etc., but excludes losses that can be recovered from the carrier.
* Nuclear incident insurance covers damages resulting from an incident involving radioactivive materials and is generally arranged at the national level. (For the United States, see the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act.)
* Environmental liability insurance protects the insured from bodily injury, property damage and cleanup costs as a result of the dispersal, release or escape of pollutants.
* Pet insurance insures pets against accidents and illnesses - some companies cover routine/wellness care and burial, as well.
* Political risk insurance can be taken out by businesses with operations in countries in which there is a risk that revolution or other political con***ions will result in a loss.
* Professional indemnity insurance is normally a mandatory requirement for professional practitioners such as architects, lawyers, doctors and accountants to provide insurance cover against potential negligence claims. Non-licensed professionals may also purchase malpractice insurance, in which case it is commonly called errors and omissions insurance and covers a service provider for claims made against him that arise out of the performance of specified professional services. For instance, a web site designer can obtain E&O insurance to cover her for certain claims made by third parties that arise out of negligent performance of web site development services.
* Property insurance provides protection against risks to property, such as fire, theft or weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, inland marine insurance or boiler insurance.
* Terrorism insurance provides protection against any loss or damage caused by terrorist activities.
* Title insurance provides a guarantee that title to real property is vested in the purchaser and/or mortgagee, free and clear of liens or encumbrances. It is usually issued in conjunction with a search of the public records performed at the time of a real estate transaction.
* Travel insurance is an insurance cover taken by those who travel abroad, which covers certain losses such as medical expenses, lost of personal belongings, travel delay, personal liabilities, etc.
* Workers'' compensation insurance replaces all or part of a worker''s wages lost and accompanying medical expense incurred because of a job-related injury.
A single policy may cover risks in one or more of the categories set forth above. For example, auto insurance would typically cover both property risk (covering the risk of theft or damage to the car) and liability risk (covering legal claims from causing an accident). A homeowner''s insurance policy in the U.S. typically includes property insurance covering damage to the home and the owner''s belongings, liability insurance covering certain legal claims against the owner, and even a small amount of health insurance for medical expenses of guests who are injured on the owner''s property.
Potential sources of risk that may give rise to claims are known as "perils". Examples of perils might be fire, theft, earthquake,and hurricane, among many others. An insurance policy will set out in detail which perils are covered by the policy and which are not.