讲座题目：Local Religious Beliefs and Insurance Companies’ Risk-Taking Behaviors（地方宗教信仰与保险公司风险承担行为）

　　主讲人：徐键人博士

　　时间：2017年1月11日上午9:00-11:00

　　地点：B127

　　讲座主要内容：We empirically examine the effect of local religious beliefs on risk-taking behaviors of life insurers headquartered in that region. We distinguish between insurers that predominantly write annuities and insurers that predominantly write life insurance policies; the annuity business is relatively more risky than writing life insurance. Insurers headquartered in high-Catholic or low-Protestant areas are more likely to be annuity writers. Annuity writers located in high-Catholic or low-Protestant areas invest more in risky assets and exhibit higher investment return volatilities as well as a higher volatility of their return on assets. Overall, our results suggest that local religious beliefs have significant influences on life insurers’ behaviors.

　　主讲人介绍：Dr. Jianren Xu joined the Mihaylo College at California State University, Fullerton as an Assistant Professor of Finance in 2014. His research interests include corporate risk management, insurance markets, earnings management, and behavioral finance. He had previously worked in the insurance industry for 3 years. He holds the designation of ARM (Associate in Risk Management) and passed two actuarial exams (P and FM). Dr. Xu earned his Ph.D. with a major in Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) and a minor in Finance in 2014 from the University of Georgia. He currently has two papers forthcoming and a third paper under the second review at the Journal of Risk and Insurance. He won the Best Paper Awards from the Southwest Finance Association and the Western Risk and Insurance Association. He has also received several research grantsawards and teaching awards.