Authors

• Mohammadnabi Shahekitash ¹
• Nasim Fiyozi Ekhtiyari ²

¹ Faculty member of the Faculty of Economics, Sistan and Baluchestan University

² M.A in Economics

Abstract

"Competition" and "monopoly" are two important issues in market structure analysis. Theoretically, monopoly structure in an industry results in distorted resource allocation, bringing about economic rents. The outcome of such market structure is the burden of social costs imposed on the users. This study shows that the insurance industry in Iran is a tight monopoly. We therefore, estimate the resulting social burden of insurance industry in Iran. The result of calculating Harberger, Posner, and Cowling-Muller indices in 2003 shows that a social cost is equal to 2.8%, 3.45%, and 3.13%. of the revenues earned in insurance industry, respectively.
 

Keywords

• Insurance Market
• effective monopoly
• concentration
• Harberger
• Posner
• Cowling-Muller