Sharon Tennyson
Prof Assoc
2008
PAMWeb Bio Page
Current Activities
Current Professional Activities
Dr. Tennyson is actively engaged in research and teaching on economic and public policy issues in insurance markets. She has published extensively on topics related to insurance rate regulation and insurance fraud, and is a frequent speaker on these issues. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Risk and Insurance and the Journal of Insurance Regulation, and is a Research Fellow at Networks Financial Institute.
Current Research Activities
State regulation and deregulation of insurance markets, insurance bad faith liability, long-term care insurance purchase, state Medicaid restrictions on prescription drug coverage.
Biography
Biographical Statement
Sharon Tennyson is Associate Professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University with a specialization in industrial organization and public policy. Her research focuses on the impact of laws and of government regulation on insurance firms, consumers and markets; the organization of insurance markets; and consumer behavior in insurance transactions. Her work has been published in economics, insurance and finance journals and in several prestigious edited collections, and she has received funding from a variety of sources including the National Science Foundation. Dr. Tennyson serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Risk and Insurance and the Journal of Insurance Regulation and is a former President of the Risk Theory Society. Before coming to Cornell Dr. Tennyson served on the faculty of the Department of Insurance and Risk Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Education
Ph.D., Economics, Northwestern University
B.A., Economics, UCLA
Courses, Websites, Pubs
Courses Taught
PAM 3400 - Economics of Consumer Policy
PAM 3440 - Regulating Financial Institutions
PAM 4230 - Risk Management and Policy
PAM 6400 - Consumers, Information and Regulation
Selected Publications
“State Prescription Drug Policies, Cost Barriers and the Use of Acute Care Services by Medicaid Beneficiaries,” with Hae Kyung Yang, Journal of Consumer Affairs Vol. 43, No. 1, Spring 2009.
“Moral, Social and Economic Dimensions of Insurance Claims Fraud,” Social Research Vol 75, No. 4, Winter 2008.
“Automobile Insurance Regulation: The Massachusetts Experience,” with Laureen Regan and Mary A. Weiss, in J. David Cummins, ed., Deregulating Property-Liability Insurance: Restoring Competition and Increasing Market Efficiency, Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute-Brookings Institution Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, 2002. [chapter]
“Insurance Fraud and Optimal Claims Settlement Strategies,” with Keith J. Crocker, The Journal of Law and Economics Vol. 45 No. 2, October 2002. [abstract]
“Insurance Distribution Systems,” with Laureen Regan, in Georges Dionne, ed., Handbook of Insurance, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000.
“Economic Institutions and Individual Ethics: A Study of Consumer Attitudes Toward Insurance Fraud,” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization Vol. 30 No. 2, February 1997. [abstract]
“Controlling Automobile Insurance Costs,” with J. David Cummins, Journal of Economic Perspectives Vol. 6 No. 2, Spring 1992. [abstract]