David Cummins

Dr. J. David Cummins is the Joseph E. Boettner Professor of Risk Management, Insurance and Financial Institutions. He also serves as the Director of the Advanta Center for Financial Institutions, and as a member of the Research Roundtable.

Dr. Cummins is a prolific author. In a recent academic research article in the Journal of Risk and Insurance that analyzed the relative contributions to the field of risk, insurance and financial institutions of all scholars, Dr. Cummins was recognized as the Premier (#1) researcher in this discipline in the world.

Dr. Cummins’ research focuses on insurance economics; financial risk management; productivity and efficiency; and securitization. During his career, Dr. Cummins has written 85 articles in academic journals. He has published numerous articles in the premier Risk and Insurance journals, including: the Journal of Risk and Insurance, Geneva Papers, North American Actuarial Review, and Insurance, Mathematics and Economics. Apart from Insurance journals, he has also published in many premier journals in Finance and Economics, such as: The Journal of Banking and Finance, The Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, The Journal of Monetary Economics, The Journal of Financial Economics, The Journal of Law and Economics, Management Science, The Journal of Business, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Econometrica, Economic Letters, The Bell Journal, Federal Reserve Bank Reviews and the Brookings Papers.

Furthermore, he has authored, coauthored, edited and co-edited a total of sixteen books. He has authored and coauthored a total of thirty-four chapters in books and monographs.

In terms of teaching, Dr. Cummins’ greatest contributions have been in the doctoral area. He has chaired 41 doctoral dissertations and is currently chairing 11 students.

Dr. Cummins is also extremely active in his profession. He has organized many conferences, and has been a panelist, discussant, moderator, and chair of many sessions in Risk and Insurance conferences. He is currently the co-editor of the Journal of Banking and Finance, which is a premier journal in the field. Also, he is the Associate Editor of eight journals in Risk & Insurance and Finance.

Additionally, Dr. Cummins has held the highest office in the profession as the President of the American Risk and Insurance Association.

Sample Publications

• “Systemic Risk and the Inter-Connectedness Between Banks and Insurers: An Econometric Analysis,” 2013, Journal of Risk and Insurance, forthcoming. With Hua Chen, Krupa Viswanathan, and Mary A. Weiss.
• “Efficiency, Productivity, and Scale Economies in the U.S. Property-Liability Insurance Industry,” 2013, Journal of Productivity Analysis 39: 141-164. With Xiaoying Xie.
• “CAT Bonds and Other Risk-Linked Securities: Product Design and Evolution of the Market,” 2012, The Geneva Reports: Risk and Insurance Research 5: 39-61.
• “Economies of Scope in Financial Services: DEA Efficiency Analysis of the U.S. Insurance Industry,” 2010, Journal of Banking and Finance 34 (no. 7, July): 1525-1539. With Mary A. Weiss, Xiaoying Xie, and Hongmin Zi.
• “Performance Measurement in the Financial Services Sector: Frontier Efficiency Methodologies and Other Innovative Techniques,” 2010, Journal of Banking and Finance 34 (no. 7, July): 1413-1416. With Rajiv D. Banker and Paul J.M. Klumpes.

Awards and Honors

• Harold D. Skipper Award for the Best Paper Presented at the Asia-Pacific Risk and Insurance Association Meeting 2012, Seoul, Korea (July). The prize was for the paper by Jiang Cheng, Tzuting Lin, and J. David Cummins, “Organizational Form, Ownership Structure and Top Executive Turnover: Evidence in the Property- Liability Insurance Industry.”
• “Securitization, Insurance, and Reinsurance,” JRI (2009). The Casualty Actuarial Society Prize, 2010, for the Best Feature Article in the Journal of Risk and Insurance in 2009 with applicability to casualty actuarial science.
• “Estimating the Cost of Capital for Property-Liability Insurers,” JRI (2005). The Casualty Actuarial Society Prize, 2006, for the Best Feature Article in the Journal of Risk and Insurance in 2005 with applicability to casualty actuarial science.
• “The Stochastic Dominance of No Fault Automobile Insurance,” JRI (1993). Robert I. Mehr Award, 2003, as one of two articles published in the Journal of Risk and Insurance in 1993 that have best “stood the test of time.”
• “Ownership Structure Changes in the Insurance Industry: An Analysis of Demutualization,” JRI (2003). Best Paper Prize at the Asia-Pacific Risk and Insurance Association meeting (Bangalore, India , July 2001). (One of 3 Best Paper Prizes).

Teaching

Fox School of Business, Temple University

• Actuarial Science 3503/5104 – Loss Models, Part III
• RMI 9001 – Economic Structure of Insurance Markets
• RMI 9003 – Risk Theory
• RMI 9090 – Proseminar in Risk Management and Insurance

Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania

• Insurance 1 – Principles of Insurance, undergraduate
• Insurance 205/805 – Introduction to Risk Management
• Insurance 260 – Statistics and Operations Research for Actuaries
• Insurance 820 – Principles of Insurance, graduate
• Insurance 20 – Life and Health Insurance, undergraduate
• Insurance 821 – Life and Health Insurance, graduate
• Insurance 825 – Property and Liability Insurance, graduate
• Insurance 926 – Property and Liability Insurance Problems, graduate
• Insurance 927 – Risk Management, graduate
• Insurance 932 – Mathematical Risk Theory, graduate
• Insurance 812 – Markets for Pure Risks