Stability, Competition, and Concentration in the Turkish Insurance Sector


Kasman A., Kasman S., Öztürk (Gökalp) G.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE ECONOMICS OF BUSINESS, cilt.27, sa.2, ss.269-289, 2020 (Hakemli Dergi) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 27 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2020
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/13571516.2019.1664835
  • Dergi Adı: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE ECONOMICS OF BUSINESS
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.269-289
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Stability, Competition, Concentration, Earnings Volatility, Insurance, LIFE-INSURANCE, BANK COMPETITION, MARKET-STRUCTURE, PANEL-DATA, EFFICIENCY, RISK, PERFORMANCE, SOUNDNESS, COMPANIES, FIRMS
  • Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This paper examines the impact of competition and concentration on stability in the Turkish insurance sector over the period 2002-2014. The main results indicate that non-life insurers are more stable in a less competitive and highly concentrated environment. This finding provides support for the competition-fragility view in the Turkish non-life insurance sector. In contrast, life/pension insurers are more stable in a highly competitive and more concentrated market. Hence, our findings provide support for the competition-stability view for Turkish life/pension insurers. The results further indicate that higher market power decreases (increases) earnings volatility in the non-life (life/pension) insurance sector. A quadratic term of the competition measures was also used in this study to capture a possible nonlinear relationship between competition and risk. The results suggest an inverse U-shaped pattern for the non-life insurer's case. That is, market power increases insurer stability until a threshold level. As for the life/pension insurer's case, the results also support a U-shaped relationship between market power and stability. The results further show that there is no nonlinear relationship between competition and stability.