Ben Waber reviewed Investing in Life by Sharon Ann Murphy
An Amazing Dive into the Genesis of the American Life Insurance Industry
5 stars
This book provides a comprehensive review of the many facets of the roots of the American life insurance industry, detailing underwriting methodologies, operations, and entanglements with slavery. Compared with Murphy's also excellent "Banking on Slavery," this work is a cut above due to its focused nature and the incorporation of quantitative metrics to illustrate the scope of issues described in case studies. For those interested in analytical methods and privacy the sections on underwriting should be especially fascinating, as they reveal the depths of the subjective nature of these metrics as well as the extremely invasive nature of the investigations (arguably necessary to properly estimate risk in these far more fluid times). Highly recommend
This book provides a comprehensive review of the many facets of the roots of the American life insurance industry, detailing underwriting methodologies, operations, and entanglements with slavery. Compared with Murphy's also excellent "Banking on Slavery," this work is a cut above due to its focused nature and the incorporation of quantitative metrics to illustrate the scope of issues described in case studies. For those interested in analytical methods and privacy the sections on underwriting should be especially fascinating, as they reveal the depths of the subjective nature of these metrics as well as the extremely invasive nature of the investigations (arguably necessary to properly estimate risk in these far more fluid times). Highly recommend