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Game Theory Term Insurance Essay examples

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Game Theory in Life Insurance
The insurance industry has long been applying game theory to evaluate whether or not individuals are insurable and determine how much premium to charge them based on their apparent needs. This interaction between the consumer and the insurance company can be characterized as a game because not only are they playing against one another but each party is waging on an outcome more beneficial to them. In a traditional life insurance, there are many variables to consider when utilizing game theory to form a strategy as there are investment components along with complex riders. Thus, in order to keep the game relatively simple, this paper will assume the insurance being considered is term life and use game …show more content…

Instead, the presumed opponent is Mother Nature. Professor Marvin D. Troutt, who wrote the classic work on game theoretical approaches to life insurance purchasing, explains how the potential consumer is at odds with nature: “there is the option of delaying the purchase for a number of years in the future at the risk that Nature, or chance, will intervene and allow death (or insurability) to occur before insurance begins” (Troutt, 1988).
Using Troutt’s model in a normal-form matrix below, the buyer has two possible strategies (Insure and Not Insure) while Mother Nature has two possible strategies (Live and Die). The payoff of the game is the family’s wealth at the end of the year. The payoff matrix looks like this:

Mother Nature

Strategy
Live
Die
Buyer
Insure
-1, 0
1, 0

Not Insure
0, 0
-1, 0
Figure 1

As the above table is dealing with one’s life, it is safe to assume that the game is a one-shot, simultaneous game for the fact that this game is only going to happen once and that the decision of each player is unknown from the other. In this scenario, the prospective buyer’s best strategy (1, 0) for this game is to ‘Insure’ if Mother Nature chooses ‘Die’ as highlighted above. This is ideal for the buyer because this unfortunate incident will generate a payoff to benefit the family based on the face amount purchased. Two of the

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