The Impact of Sudden Public Health Events on the Insurance Companies' Investment Returns: Based on the Investors' Sentiment Perspective

Yunfeng Shang; Fangbin Qian; Nan Gao; Qin Yang; Yiting Guo; Yunpeng Sun

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.810515

The Impact of Sudden Public Health Events on the Insurance Companies' Investment Returns: Based on the Investors' Sentiment Perspective

Front Public Health. 2022 Feb 15:10:810515. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.810515. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yunfeng Shang¹, Fangbin Qian^{2

3}, Nan Gao³, Qin Yang³, Yiting Guo³, Yunpeng Sun¹

Affiliations

¹ Northeast Asia Research Center, Zhejiang Yuexiu University of Foreign Languages, Shaoxing, China.
² Center for International Education, Philippine Christian University, Manila, Philippines.
³ School of Hospitality Management, Zhejiang Yuexiu University of Foreign Languages, Shaoxing, China.

Abstract

This study analyzes the conflicting effects of investors' sentiment caused by public health emergencies and uses event analysis methods and linear regressions to examine the impact of such emergencies on the stock prices of insurance companies. The study shows that public health emergencies have a positive and significant impact on insurance companies' portfolios through investors' sentiment, which is persistent. However, the investor fear index triggered by public health emergencies is negatively associated with insurance stock portfolio returns. Meanwhile, insurers with smaller market capitalization are more strongly influenced by investors' sentiment than those with larger market capitalization.

Keywords: COVID-19; insurance companies; investors' sentiment; public health emergencies; stock portfolio returns.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Attitude
COVID-19*
Humans
Insurance Carriers
Investments
Public Health*