Cap-and-trade mechanisms, green technology investment, and shadow insurance in a black swan environment

Xuelian Li, Lingzhi Chen and Jyh-Horng Lin

Energy Economics, 2023, vol. 124, issue C

Abstract: This study aims to evaluate an insurer's equity during a black swan event by developing a capped call option model. The capped call captures the lending-borrowing relationship by integrating the credit risk from the carbon emission reductions of the carbon-intensive borrowing firm with the insurer's shadow insurance in an imperfectly competitive life insurance market. We show that the borrowing firm invests significantly in green technology, increasing its equity value and the insurer's interest margin, but harms policyholders. Increasing shadow insurance enhances the insurer's interest margin and firm equity. Moreover, we find that stringent cap regulation of the cap-and-trade scheme decreases the insurer's interest margin when the black swan impact becomes significant. This strict cap regulation helps policyholder protection, but harms borrowing firm equity. We suggest that the government shrink the cap of the cap-and-trade scheme, contributing to insurance stability. Colossal black swan increases the insurer's interest margin, policyholder protection, and borrowing firm equity. In conclusion, we show that the capped call option model is relevant to green finance for an insurer-borrowing firm.

Keywords: Cap-and-trade; Green technology; Shadow insurance; Black swan; Cap call option (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G13 G22 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988323002748
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:124:y:2023:i:c:s0140988323002748

DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2023.106776

Access Statistics for this article

Energy Economics is currently edited by R. S. J. Tol, Beng Ang, Lance Bachmeier, Perry Sadorsky, Ugur Soytas and J. P. Weyant

More articles in Energy Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().