Does the Weather Effect Exist in the Insurance Market?

This study aims to determine the weather effect in the life insurance industry. We investigate if weather influences insurance purchase behavior using actual data provided by a life insurance company in Taiwan. We examine the influence of weather factors, such as sunshine duration, temperature, humidity, rainfall, utilizing detailed data with dates and places of signed accident insurance contracts between 2015 and 2019. Our results reveal that the weather effect exists in Taiwan's life insurance market. We also find that bad (good) weather significantly increases (decreases) insurance amount.

關鍵字

Weather effect ； sunshine effect ； insurance market ； consumer sentiment ； behavioral insurance

並列摘要

本研究針對不同天氣因素對保險購買行為進行研究，利用國內某壽險公司2015年至2019年意外傷害保險投保資料與天氣資料進行實證。發現保險市場存在天氣效應，天氣確實會影響要保人的保險金額，但不同地區因天氣型態不同而影響效果也不同。另外發現交易日屬於惡劣天氣時，保險金額顯著較高，反之舒適天氣日，購買保險金額顯著較低。

並列關鍵字

天氣效應；陽光效應；保險市場；消費者情緒；行為保險

參考文獻

Arkes, Hal R., Lisa T. Herren, and Alice M. Isen, 1988, The role of potential loss in the influence of affect on risk-taking behavior, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 42, 181-193.

Google Scholar

Bassi, Anna, Riccardo Colacito, and Paolo Fulghieri, 2013, ‘O sole mio: An experimental analysis of weather and risk attitudes in financial decisions, Review of Financial Studies 26, 1824-1852.