Liberalisation and Market Concentration Impact on Performance of the Non-Life Insurance Industry: The Evidence from Eastern Europe

The aim of this paper is to examine market structure, conduct and performance relationship (S-C-P) hypothesis for the non-life insurance industry in Eastern European countries. Additionally, we examine the effect of liberalisation on market structure and performance. We use the country-specific fixed effects models for panel data for the period 2004-2008 allowing each cross-sectional unit to have a different intercept term serving as an unobserved random variable that is potentially correlated with the observed regressors. Three models are presented, each placing market structure, liberalisation and profitability in a distinct environment defined by related control variables. The research results support the S-C-P hypothesis in all of the observed models, showing evidence of strong influence of market structure and liberalisation on market profitability. These results could be useful in decision-making for both governments and insurance companies. The Geneva Papers (2011) 36, 94-106. doi: 10.1057/gpp.2010.32