Pop Up GLOSS*arama: INSURANCE

INSURANCE: Transferring risk to others. The need for insurance occurs because people tend to be risk averse in many circumstances. As such, most of us are willing to pay for certainty. Those who satisfy this need for insurance, insurance companies for example, do so because they can pool risk. If insurance companies know the chance of some loss (an accident, illness, or whatever) and its cost, then they can divide this cost among a large group of risk averse types. The insurance company agrees to pay the cost of the loss and each of the risk averse types pay a risk premium, but get the peace of mind that goes with certainty.