A Swiss native born in 1946, Peter Zweifel is a Professor of Economics at the University of Zurich at the Socioeconomic Institute. Together with Friedrich Breyer and Matthias Kifmann, he is the author of "Health Economics" (2nd. ed., Springer, 2009); other texts ("An Economic Model of Physician Behavior", "Insurance Economics", "International Economics", "Energy Economics") are available in German only. His work has been published by the Am. Ec. Rev., Antitrust Bull., Eur. Econ. Rev., Health Econ. , J. Health Ec., J. Risk & Ins., J. Risk & Unc., Public Choice, among others. Together with Mark Pauly of the University of Pennsylvania, he is the founding editor of the International Journal of Health Finance and Economics (Kluwer). From 1996 to 2005, he has also served as a member of the Competition Commission, the Swiss antitrust authority.

Brings together insurance topics that nowhere else are covered in a single volume

Shows where private insurance has a competitive edge over social insurance and where it does not

Throughout the text, conclusions condense arguments and findings, both for learning and future reference

Introduction: Insurance and its Economic Role.- Risk: Measurement, Perception, and Management.- Insurance Demand I: Decisions under Risk without Diversification Possibilities.- Insurance Demand II: Decisions under Risk with Diversification Possibilities.- The Insurance Company and its Insurance Technology.- The Supply of Insurance.- Insurance Markets and Asymmetric Information.- Regulation of Insurance.- Social Insurance.- Challenges Confronting Insurance.