8.3.3 Gender and insurance

A decision in 2011 by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) meant that from December 2012 insurance companies in Europe could no longer take gender into account when pricing their insurance products. This move has had a major impact on the insurance industry.

Do you think the decision is rational, taking into account what you’ve learned about how insurance products are priced?

Who have been the gender winners and losers from this decision? In particular, think about car insurance and life insurance.

Figure 13