Geneva Association Ernst Meyer Prize honours outstanding research advancing insurance and risk management

The Geneva Association is pleased to announce the co-winners of the 2026 Geneva Association Ernst Meyer Prize: Tim Philippi, for his thesis completed at the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, and Adam Solomon, for his thesis completed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Geneva Association Ernst Meyer Prize has recognised excellent doctoral theses that contribute to the study of risk and insurance economics since 1976.

Tim Philippi’s thesis, Essays on Reallocating Disaster Relief Payments towards Subsidizing Insurance Markets, examines whether publicly financed insurance premium subsidies can increase insurance uptake and thus reduce future government disaster-relief spending. The thesis of Adam Solomon, Essays on the Economics of Private and Social Insurance, analyses how insurance market design and regulation influence risk-sharing and welfare outcomes across agricultural, climate, and long-term-care insurance markets.

Christophe Courbage, Editor-in-Chief of The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance and member of the judging committee, stated: "The two winning theses of the 2026 Ernst Meyer Prize address critical dimensions of how insurance strengthens societal resilience, from disaster relief to long-term care. They examine practical challenges confronting insurers and offer data-driven insights into improving insurance and risk-management systems. The judging committee found that both theses demonstrate the real-world relevance of academic research."

In addition to Professor Courbage (Geneva School of Business Administration, University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland), this year’s judging committee is comprised of Professor Lisa Posey (Pennsylvania State University), Professor Andreas Richter (LMU Muni