Economic Issues in Law and Insurance

The introduction is aimed at offering a concise overview of the topics covered during the Seminar and at providing some insights into the issues that are not addressed by the contributions selected for publication in this special issue. Reviving a long-standing tradition, scholars interested in the economic analysis of risk and insurance gathered from all over the world to present new ideas and discuss critical issues in a number of topics selected by an international scientific board, including the governance of emerging catastrophic risks; the development and interdependency of corporate liability risks and the insurance system; environmental liability and accident prevention; the impact of directors’ and officers’ (D&O) liability insurance and the insurance coverage of risks arising out of extraordinary corporate transactions (mergers, acquisitions and initial public offerings (IPOs)) on corporate governance, securities regulation, accountability, transparency and investors’ protection; innovative insurance tools and alternative risk transfer solutions; and the changing institutional role of the international reinsurance sector. The closing session of the Seminar hosted a round table discussion with major European and international private sector players—including insurance/reinsurance companies and brokers, risk managers and corporate lawyers—to address some of the key questions raised during the academic part of the Seminar from a practical and operational viewpoint. The discussion among key participants in the D&O and transactional (M&A) insurance business in Europe and the United States focused on critical issues at the crossroads between corporate governance, extraordinary corporate transactions and innovative insurance solutions.