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What's a good POD for tontines never being outlawed in the US, and what are the consequences? http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...e-future-of-retirement/?tid=pm_business_pop_b

See also Roger L. Ransom and Richard Sutch, "Tontine Insurance and the Armstrong Investigation: A Case of Stifled Innovation, 1868-1905," The Journal of Economic History Vol. 47, No. 2, The Tasks of Economic History (Jun., 1987), pp. 379-390. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2122236?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Abstract: "Tontine insurance, introduced in 1868, combined the features of life insurance with an unusual old-age saving plan. A portion of the annual premium was accumulated in a fund that was divided among the surviving policyholders after twenty years. By 1905, two-thirds of all life insurance in force was of this type. Despite consumer appeal, sales of tontine policies were prohibited in 1906 after the Armstrong Investigation charged the tontine business with corruption and extravagance. We argue that tontine insurance was actuarially sound and an attractive life-cycle investment. Prohibition was probably unnecessary."
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