What a pleasure it is to discover the second edition of the Handbook of Insurance, twelve years after the first! Many key concepts at the core of risk, uncertainty and insurance economics have been further refined, reassessed, and reanalyzed. New issues have emerged, including systemic risk, longevity risk, long-term care, the corporate governance of insurance companies, capital allocation within insurance companies and alternative risk transfer devices. I have a simple wish: that this handbook be diffused to as wide an audience as possible, both in academic and professional spheres. Denis Kessler Chairman and CEO of SCOR This new edition of the Handbook of Insurance reviews the last forty years of research developments in insurance and its related fields. A single reference source for professors, researchers, graduate students, regulators, consultants, and practitioners, the book starts with the history and foundations of risk and insurance theory, followed by a review of prevention and precaution, asymmetric information, risk management, insurance pricing, new financial innovations, reinsurance, corporate governance, capital allocation, securitization, systemic risk, insurance regulation, the industrial organization of insurance markets, and other insurance market applications. It ends with health insurance, longevity risk, long-term care insurance, life insurance financial products, and social insurance. This second version of the Handbook contains 15 new chapters. Each of the 37 chapters has been written by leading authorities in risk and insurance research, all contributions have been peer reviewed, and each chapter can be read independently of the others.