保險業市場集中度及效率對競爭度之影響 －以日本產險業為例

Abstract

日本政府自1996年實施金融大改革(Big Bang)，金融市場從保守走向自由開放，面對競爭越趨激烈的環境，日本產險業開始出現公司併購重組的情形，使得市場越趨集中。無論是市場結構的改變，或是併購亦可能對公司既行營運模式造成改變，進而影響公司的經營效率，都可能對公司的市場壟斷力造成影響，進而影響市場的競爭度。本研究以2001-2012年日本產險市場為研究對象，主要目的在探討市場集中度及公司效率此兩種變數是否會對競爭度產生影響。實證模型採用追蹤資料固定效果模型作分析，並以Lerner指數作為衡量公司市場壟斷力的變數，赫芬達指數作為衡量市場集中度變數，以資料包絡分析法所求出之效率值代表效率變數。實證結果發現，市場集中度對於公司的市場壟斷力無顯著影響，而產險公司效率與公司的壟斷力呈正向關係，當公司效率越高，其壟斷力越高，而市場競爭程度越低。

Since the Japanese financial system reform, “Big Bang,” was commenced in 1996, the financial market in Japan has been transformed into free and open market. At the same time, the Japanese insurance market became more competitive due to the regulatory changes. Many mergers and acquisitions appeared in Japanese insurance industry and that increased the market concentration. The reform has also changed firm operation modes and then have impact on firm efficiency. Furthermore, the changes of market structure and firm efficiency may have impact on market power and therefore affect the level of competition.\nThe objective of this study is to assess the impact of concentration and efficiency on competition in Japanese property-liability insurance industry using the fixed effect model. The research period is from 2001 to 2012. This study utilizes Lerner index to measure market power (competition) and Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI) to measure market concentration. And the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method is applied to evaluate the efficiency of insurance companies. The results show that the relation between concentration and competition is not significant. This paper also finds evidence that higher firm efficiency leads to higher market power (lower competition).