Nur Azmeen #1
FINAL DRAFT
Question 1
Zheng, Wei, Yongdong Liu, and Yiting Deng. “A Comparative Study of International Insurance
_____Market.” Geneva Risk and Insurance Review. 34.1 (2009): 85-99. Web. 11 April 2014.
This article is comparing the insurance growth level of different countries such as
developed countries and developing countries. They introduce new methods to calculate the
insurance growth rate relative to economic growth rather than just using the traditional methods
like “premium income” and “insurance density.” It also further discusses the policy implications
on insurance. I like this article because it relates to my field of study and I get to know different
types of calculating insurance growth by reading it.
Question 2
The authors use the steps of John Swales CARS model in the introduction of their article. Move 1
and step 1 is used as follows:
“The international comparison of insurance growth is an issue of great importance against
the background of globalization” (Zheng, Liu, and Deng 86)
The authors claims centrality and tell the readers that the article is significant by establishing that
it is an issue of “great importance.”
Move 2, counter claiming is used as follows:
“… thus it fails to take into consideration the relationship between the insurance industry
and the economy” (86).
Nur Azmeen #2
In this move, the authors refutes an earlier research by saying that it fails to take into account the
relationship between the insurance industry and the economy.
Move 2, indicating a gap is used as follows:
“This is to say, when discussing the growth level of a country’s insurance industry, its stage
of economic development cannot be neglected” (86).
The authors show that previous calculation of a country’s growth level does not include its stage
of economic development.
Move 3 and step 1A is used as follows:
“This paper will propose a new method, Benchmark…” (86).
The authors outline their purposes of the paper.
Move 3 and step 2 is used as follows:
“By comparing the results obtained …, we can make some new judgments about
international insurance growth” (86).
The main conclusion of the research is presented by the author.
Move 3 step 3 is used as follows:
“The rest of the paper is organized as follows…” (86).
In this step and move, the authors preview the organization of their article.
The moves and steps that are not used by the authors are move 1, steps 2 and 3, move 2, questionraising and continuing a tradition, and move 3, step 1b.
Nur Azmeen #3
Question 3
The authors used APA format to cite their sources. There are a total of 10 references made
by the authors. Five of the articles were written more than ten years ago, and the other five were
written in the last ten years. The majority of the articles referenced are working papers from
different countries. For example, from Norwegian School of Economics and University of
Southampton, United Kingdom.
The articles cited by the authors are insurance and economic growth related. For instance,
they cited articles titled “The Economic Significance of Insurance Markets in Developing
Countries,” “Does Insurance Promote Economic Growth? Evidence from the U.K.,” and “Life
Insurance and Economic Growth: Theoretical and Empirical Investigation.”
There are two articles cited from “Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance” and another two
that are cited from “Journal of Risk and Insurance.” The authors also cited an article that was
previously written by two of them entitled, “The Chinese Insurance Market: Estimating its LongTerm Growth and Size.”
Question 4
The tones of this essay are technical, informative, and formal. An example of a technical tone is
as follows:
“The calculation of the BRIP of a country could be conducted following three steps. First,
use an… Second, calculate this… Third, divide the…” (Zheng, Liu, and Deng 88).
We can see the technicality of this example as the authors break down to calculate a country’s
BRIP into three steps and guide the readers through the steps.
Nur Azmeen #4
An example of an educational tone is as follows:
“Put more specifically, the BRIP evaluates the relative relationship between a country’s
insurance penetration and the world’s average penetration at an economic level equal to
the country’s GDP per capita” (87).
In this sentence, the authors inform the readers the meaning of BRIP and the relationship between
a country’s insurance penetration and its GDP per capita.
An example of a formal tone used in the article is as follows:
“A reasonable evaluation of each country’s insurance growth level would not only help
insurance companies with their global expansion strategy, and help governments to make
industry policies, but also…” (86).
The article has a proper format and design. The headings for each section are bolded
whereas the subheading for the sections are italicized. For example, “New Method: Content and
Model” is the heading of a section and the words are bolded. In this section, the article is divided
into different subsections and each heading of the subsection is italicized. For instance, “The
Meaning of ‘BRIP’” (87).
There are also graphs and tables added to illustrate the data and statistics to make it easier
for the readers to read it. In total, there are three graphs and five tables used. They have a table of
insurance ranking of 93 countries of the world to show how when different calculation is used, the
ranking of each country varies. For instance, when the premium, density, penetration, and BRIP
methods are used, the ranking for United States are 1st, 8th, 14th, and 26th respectively (91).
Nur Azmeen #5
There is also a graph that shows the BRIP curve for different economic groups that “depicts
the BRIP of the world average, developed markets average, developing markets average, emerging
markets average, and BRIC average during 1980-2007.” The table shows that based on the new
BRIP indicator, the relative growth level of the insurance industry in developed markets are higher
than the developing markets for the past two decades (95-96).
There are not many grammatical errors in the article. Most of the sentences are long
structured. For example, “First, it is necessary to have a new recognition of the international
insurance growth pattern: the relative level of insurance growth in developed markets has declined
as compared with that indicated by traditional indicators, and the relative level of insurance growth
in developing markets has increased” (85).
Sometimes, the paragraphs are too long. For example, the third paragraph of the
introduction section of the article. There are a total of eighteen lines and 210 words in that
paragraph.
Question 5
The thesis of the article is to propose a new method, Benchmark Ratio of Insurance
Penetration (BRIP), for comparing insurance growth across different countries (Zheng, Liu, and
Deng 86).
The authors start off by introducing the new method and explaining the formula that they
have come up with. They also explain the previous formula they extracted from Carter, Dickinson,
and Enz, and how the new formula is made based on the existing formula. “BRIP is a ‘benchmark’
adjustment to insurance penetration, with the key being to recognize the important rule that
Nur Azmeen #6
different stages of economic development are accompanied by different insurance penetration”
(87-88).
There are many ways to calculate the insurance growth rate and a country’s ranking for
insurance growth rate will vary depending on the different indicators used. For example, the
premium income, insurance density, insurance penetration, and BRIP for the United States were
respectively ranked first, eighth, fourteenth, and twenty-sixth in the world (90).
Based on their discovery, in terms of average ranking, developed countries and developing
countries present different characteristics. By calculating the premium income, insurance density,
insurance penetration, and BRIP, average ranking for a developed country will decrease while the
average ranking of a developing country will increase (94).
BRIP represents the “economic-adjusted insurance growth level,” and is a more reasonable
indicator for international insurance comparison. To reveal, the overall tendency on insurance
growth in a long term, we have to look at the change in BRIP over the past decades (95).
The authors suggest that the economic development level cannot be neglected when
discussing the growth level of a country’s insurance industry (96).
When they establish a better model for an international insurance comparison, the authors
can “build a more reasonable foundation for international cooperation on insurance regulation and
relevant negotiation of international trade” (98).