Cumulative real wage gap explains a large share of the inflation gap, in particular in the countries which experienced severe economic recessions and subsequent material wage adjustments. When aggregated for all OECD countries, having a large number of observations (197 for the first wage adjustment and 525 for the second one), the estimated slopes of the postcrisis Phillips Curve are statistically significant at the 5% level, in case of the first wage adjustment episode, and at the 1% level, in case of the second wage adjustment episode. The coefficients’ sign is positive, in line with the theoretical assumptions. 6  The individual results also confirm the strong and positive relation between cumulative real wage gap and inflation gap. In the case of the first wage adjustment episode, out of 21 countries, 8 of them have positive and statistically significant coefficients; other 7 countries have positive but not statistically significant coefficients, while the remaining 6 countries have negative but not statistically significant coefficients. In the case of the second wage adjustment episode, out of 33 countries, 16 of them have positive and statistically significant coefficients; other 9 countries have positive but not statistically significant coefficients, while the remaining 8 countries have negative coefficients, out of which only 2 are statistically significant. Regarding the third wage adjustment episode, out of 2 countries, one has positive and statistically significant slopes and one has positive but not statistically significant slopes.
Disaster risk reduction and disaster management has thus become a focus of Governments to effectively reduce financial and economic losses. In an industry that is exposed to risks both natural and man-made, this Convention’s theme of “Today’s Risks, Tomorrow’s Claims” is highly relevant especially with regards to the challenges of insurance claims. There are three pertinent challenges that I can think of this morning. Let me briefly share my thoughts on these challenges with you. Firstly, the critical role of insurers in the various aspects of the claims management value chain, that is, claims intimidation, fraud detection and prevention, claim assessment and settlement, and complaint resolution are areas requiring close monitoring by insurers and,  BIS Review 53/2010  1  where necessary, timely intervention to detect and prevent leakages. Insurers have to assess their vulnerability and address the risk of fraud efficiently to reinforce a positive image of the industry to the public. Customers must be kept informed of the progress of their claims and be given clear explanation when a claim is rejected or not settled in full. Any delay or perceived delay in claims processing, particularly for claimants in urgent need of compensation, may be misconstrued as a deliberate attempt to delay claims settlement resulting in bad publicity and ill repute for the insurance industry. Each insurer’s claims management philosophy should therefore set out the broad principles for providing high quality service standards.