Research and Trends News

What Biden’s First Year Might Mean for Job Creation

Joe Biden’s first year in office could go down in history as a record-breaker on the job-creation front, with an explosion in hiring expected as the coronavirus vaccine rollout allows Americans to emerge from a year in hiding. It may …

Pandemic-Related Business Interruption, Cyber Top Business Risks for 2021: Allianz

There was no escaping the coronavirus in 2020 and the pandemic will dominate the risk landscape again in 2021, according to global leaders in business, risk management and insurance. A trio of Covid-19 related risks — business interruption, the pandemic …

Auto Theft Jumped in 2020

Auto theft appears to have increased considerably in 2020 compared to 2019, reversing two years of auto theft declines. A preliminary analysis by the National Insurance Crime Bureau shows there were 873,080 auto thefts in 2020, or almost 2,400 a …

Consumers Open to Sharing Personal Data with Insurers But Worry About Data Security

If it means reduced premiums, consumers are willing to share their personal information with insurers but they question whether insurers can protect their data. The number of consumers willing to share significant data on their health and lifestyle habits with …

European Researchers Turn to AI to Build Better Weather Data

European scientists who feed critical climate data to industry and researchers said that their next great breakthrough in weather forecasting will be powered by artificial intelligence. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is turning to machine learning in order …

Nearly Two-Thirds of Global Catastrophe Economic Losses Unaddressed by Insurance

There were 416 natural catastrophe events globally in 2020 that resulted in economic losses of $268 billion – 8% above the average annual losses for this century, according to insurance broker Aon’s latest catastrophe loss report. Of this total, private …

Prioritizing High-Risk Individuals for Vaccines May Not Be Necessary, Research Says

A new study suggests that prioritizing vaccination of high-risk individuals has only a marginal effect on the number of COVID-19 deaths. To obtain significant improvements, it would be better if a very large fraction of a city or town population …

Insurance Agency M&A Deals Surged 20% in Year of Pandemic: OPTIS

There were 744 announced insurance agency mergers and acquisitions in 2020, up nearly 20% from 649 reported in 2019. The surge resulted from the pent-up supply of pending transactions from earlier in the year coupled with sellers looking to avoid …

Business Startups Surged Amid Covid-19 Pandemic

The surge of U.S. business formations in the back half of 2020 has been one of the pandemic’s many surprises. After cratering by 30% in the weeks following the March lockdowns, paperwork filed by prospective businesses started growing in June …

How Climate Change May Affect Hurricane Risk and Losses: AIR, Brookings, AXIS

By 2050, climate change-related weather events will have a meaningful impact on future hurricane losses, increasing them by 20% or more and in some cases doubling them, even without any increase in the concentration of property exposure along the coast, …