Insurance, Fund Size, and Concentration : Prussian Miners ́ Knappschaften in the Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Centuries and Their Quest for Optimal Scale.

List of Tables; List of Figures; List of Abbreviations; Preface; 1. Introduction; 1.1. Central research question and scope; 1.2. The historical discussion about the appropriate fund size; 1.3. Hypotheses; 1.4. Placing the study; 1.5. Structure of the study; 2. Institutional history of the Knappschaften: Regulatory framework and room for organizational maneuver; 2.1. The historical origin of miners' solidarity; 2.2. The Knappschaften and their economic niche: industry-related insurance; 2.2.1. How did the Knappschaften work?; 2.2.2. What was the typical insurance contract like?

2.2.3. Double your coverage: Consequences of introducing Bismarckian insurance2.3. The Knappschaften -- an ideal historical laboratory?!; 3. The welfare state evolves: Exploring quantitative developments; 3.1. Data; 3.1.1. Sources and nature of the data; 3.1.2. The data's potential and limitations; 3.2. German mining at the time -- an overview; 3.3. Number of carriers; 3.4. Aggregate membership; 3.5. Knappschaft size, growth, and concentration; 3.6. Demographic issues; 3.6.1. Economic dependency; 3.6.2. Determinants of economic dependency; 3.6.3. Measuring the age structure of the Knappschaften.

3.7. The expenditure side3.7.1. Aggregate social budget; 3.7.2. Generosity; 3.8. The revenue side; 3.8.1. Revenue structure; 3.8.2. Social insurance contributions and assets; 3.8.3. The financing equilibrium; 3.9. The average Knappschaft fund at a glance; 4. Detecting economies of scale: Did growth reduce actuarial risk and operating costs?; 4.1. Making the case for economies of scale inherent in Knappschaft insurance; 4.1.1. Actuarial fundamentals; 4.1.2. Operating costs.

4.2. Searching for the minimum efficient size of a Knappschaft -- Findings on the empirical relationship between size and actuarial risk4.2.1. Empirical strategy; 4.2.2. Empirical results; 4.3. Searching for the minimum efficient size of a Knappschaft -- Findings on the empirical relationship between size and operating costs; 4.3.1. Empirical strategy; 4.3.2. Empirical results; 5. The hazard of exit: Explaining the concentration process among Knappschaften; 5.1. To merge or not to merge ... or to liquidate?; 5.2. Empirical strategy; 5.2.1. A competing risk approach to Knappschaft survival.

5.2.2. Determinants of exit with explanatory potential5.3. Merge or fail? Competing risk models of exit among Knappschaften; 6. Conclusions; Appendix; Appendix Tables; References; Index.

Um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts verfügten die deutschen Bergleute mit den Knappschaftsvereinen über ein eigenes institutionalisiertes Sozialversicherungssystem, dessen historische Wurzeln bis zurück ins Mittelalter reichen und das insbesondere auch beispielgebend für die Ausgestaltung der Bismarckschen Sozialversicherung war. Mit Blick auf die Periode zwischen Knappschaftsgesetz einerseits und Gründung der Reichsknappschaft andererseits (1854-1923) untersucht diese Arbeit ein versicherungsökonomisches Problem, über das bereits die zeitgenössischen Beobachter der Knappschaftsvereine intensiv.

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