In the 1970’s, the research agenda in insurance was dominated by optimal insurance coverage, security design, and equilibrium under conditions of imperfect information. The 1980’s saw a growth of theoretical developments including non-expected utility, multi-period contracting, price volatility, retention capacity, organizational forms, the pricing and design of insurance contracts in the presence of multiple risks, and the liability insurance crisis. The empirical study of information problems, financial derivatives, integrated risk management, and large losses due to catastrophic events dominated the research agenda in the 1990’s.

The Handbook of Insurance provides a single reference source on insurance for professors, researchers, graduate students, regulators, consultants, and practitioners, that reviews the research developments in insurance and its related fields that have occurred over the last thirty years. The book starts with the history and foundations of insurance theory and moves on to review asymmetric information, risk management, insurance pricing, and the industrial organization of insurance markets. The book ends with life insurance, pensions, and economic security.

Each chapter has been written by leading authorities in insurance, all contributions have been peer reviewed, and each chapter can be read independently of the others.

The preface by Denis Kessler, president of the Fédération Française des Sociétés d’Assurances, is very eloquent:
 

The work accomplished by Georges Dionne and the authors who contributed to this project is of vital importance to anyone who is interested in the development of insurance. It lays the foundations of a new knowledge base — practically a new discipline: that of the science of risks, which is likely to lie at the heart of our future.

http://www.genevaassociation.org/books.htm

Table of contents of the Handbook of Insurance (PDF format) 

http://www.wkap.nl/book.htm/0-7923-7911-X