Insurance is an economic institution in which individuals or organizations pool risk by paying premiums to an insurer, who agrees to compensate them for specified future losses, spreading the financial cost of unpredictable events such as death, illness, property damage or liability across a larger group. Institutional forms of risk pooling have ancient roots, including merchant guilds and maritime associations that historically compensated members for shipping losses, and grew into the modern life, health, property and casualty insurance industries regulated by national authorities today. Insurance functions as a stabilizing social institution by allowing individuals and businesses to manage financial risk that would otherwise be catastrophic if borne alone.
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Associated With
Insurance developed historically alongside and often within banking institutions, both being mechanisms of the same emerging financial system for managing risk and capital.
Marine insurance grew directly out of the trading markets of early modern port cities, where merchants pooled risk against the loss of cargo and ships.
Studied By
Source Wikipedia: Viviana Zelizer
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Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Source Insurance (Wikipedia)Article textQuote, Article text
The first known insurance contract dates from Genoa in 1347.
Sources
Wikipedia: Viviana Zelizer
WikipediaStudied By: Viviana Zelizer, LeadQuote, Studied By: Viviana Zelizer, Lead
A constant theme in her work is the economic valuation of the sacred, as found in such contexts as life insurance settlements and economic transactions between sexual intimates.
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