Multinational enterprise in insurance: An historical overview

Mira Wilkins

Business History, 2009, vol. 51, issue 3, 334-363

Abstract: The article traces the history of multinational enterprise (MNE) in insurance from the nineteenth century to the present, highlighting the importance of this topic. The essay breaks new ground in providing the first overall historical snapshot of MNEs in insurance. Long before the First World War, MNE insurers had substantial global interests. MNEs from the UK, the European continent, the United States and Canada in non-life and life insurance as well as in reinsurance established business around the world, obtaining substantial revenues from the operations in foreign locales. In many countries they were the innovators in the provision of this service. The article found differing patterns through time, discontinuities (exits), and a range of differences when comparing the non-life and life insurance sectors. Home and host country regulations and other government actions during war and peace always affected the historical developments and thus are not neglected in this survey. The article provides sample statistics to demonstrate the significance of MNEs in insurance. Within this article, the author seeks to identify research done and that which is in progress on the path of MNEs in insurance; it concludes that this is a topic where there is still major research to be accomplished.

Keywords: multinational enterprise; insurance history; history-international business; internationalization insurance; globalization; foreign investment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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DOI: 10.1080/00076790902871636

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