http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
"This book is a history of the insurance business and the regulation of that business in the United States. It begins by describing the early days of life, fire, and casualty insurance and the development of state regulation in the late nineteenth century, after a Supreme Court ruling exempted the insurance business from federal regulation. From the outset, insurers adopted a quasi-public persona, emphasized the social benefits of their work, and sought to control the terms by which they interacted with government. Early political leaders agreed that insurers played an important role in the largely voluntary social safety net. Yet insurance is a business, and over time, periodic crises in life, fire, health, auto, and liability insurance highlighted gaps between the coverage that insurers were willing to provide and what the public demanded. The Depression was an inflection point, after which the federal government began to assume a greater role in the provision of insurance. Insurers enthusiastically pursued the growing business of employee benefits. A Supreme Court decision in 1944 created an opportunity to undo the state-based system, but Congress instead chose to preserve the status quo. Yet there are significant constraints on the ability of state regulators to solve important problems in insurance markets, as was made clear by cyclical problems in auto and property markets. As the twentieth century progressed, insurers and government have become interdependent; government serves as a financial backstop and relies on the insurance industry to participate in markets, including many that are publicly funded"--Publisher's description.
Birth of a business: fire and life insurance in the nineteenth century -- A permanent body of barnacles: the beginning of state regulation -- The road to Armstrong: life insurance in the progressive era -- The life insurance moment: the problem of unmet demand -- Collusion and its discontents: fire insurance in the progressive era -- Little fires everywhere: the battle over fire insurance rates -- Accidents and mishaps: the early days of casualty insurance -- Private governments: property and casualty owners meet the federal government -- From public service organization to squirrel cage operation: life insurances meets the new deal -- Stuck in the age of containment: the piecemeal development of health insurance -- Clean risks: who deserves auto insurance? -- Hard markets: navigating catastrophes.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2024]