Pricing of catastrophe insurance options under immediate loss reestimation

Abstract
We specify a model for a catastrophe loss index, where the initial estimate of each catastrophe loss is reestimated immediately by a positive martingale starting from the random time of loss occurrence. We consider the pricing of catastrophe insurance options written on the loss index and obtain option pricing formulae by applying Fourier transform techniques. An important advantage is that our methodology works for loss distributions with heavy tails, which is the appropriate tail behavior for catastrophe modeling. We also discuss the case when the reestimation factors are given by positive affine martingales and provide a characterization of positive affine local martingales.
Volume
45
Page
831‐845
Number
3
Year
2008
Keywords
Catastrophe insurance option,Fourier transform,heavy tail,loss index,option pricing formula,positive affine martingale
Categories
Catastrophe Risk
Publications
Journal of Applied Probability
Authors
Biagini, Francesca
Bregman, Yuliya
Meyer-Brandis, Thilo