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Aw great, this is only going to cause MORE kidnappings since thieves will know they can get insurance money.
by matte_black 8y ago
Aw great, this is only going to cause MORE kidnappings since thieves will know they can get insurance money.
- kurthr 8y agoAnd if the insurance companies are limited to a % of paid claims... then they are incentivised to increase the payout and/or # kidnappings. That's a recipe for disaster just like the medical market.
- underwater 8y agoThe insurers have been paid in advance. They pay the ransom from their coffers, so are incentivised to reduce the cost as well as keep customers (not fuck to the recovery).
- matte_black 8y agoBut then interests aren’t aligned. What if the insurance company denies your claim?
- steve19 8y agoBefore K&R insurers got together, firms and wealthy families were paying badly negotiated sky high ransoms. Now professionals negotiators with ice running through their veins negotiate much better "deals" and also reduce the risk of death by two thirds. Much lower ransoms should mean kidnapping is less profitable and so supply should decrease (of kidnappings).
- ca98am79 8y agoif no one paid, there would be no more kidnappings for ransom
- true_religion 8y agoPeople are inclined to pay ransoms, so you would have to make it illegal to pay ransom, which would make a disincentive to reporting kidnappings to the police as kidnappers want.
- jerguismi 8y agoInterestingly in US paying the ransom was illegal, nowadays they are reverting that, since it was highly problematic and resulted to more deaths for the hostages, and longer hostage times. And in the end the ransom often still was paid. My source (which I have been pasting here already 3 times): https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/09/01/548032302/episode-792-the-ransom-problem https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/09/01/548032302/epis...
- girvo 8y agoThe kidnappers can remain irrational longer than you can stay solvent.
- dbasedweeb 8y agoMaybe something like the Russian model makes more sense, if not legally. The most deterrent response is to hunt the kidnapers down and exterminate them, not pay them.
- jerguismi 8y agoSounds like a great way to get the hostages killed at the same time. Maybe it would work _after_ the kidnappers have been paid.
- baud147258 8y agoBut if the hostage takers are dead and other potential hostage taker know this, it would reduce the risk?