The proposition that insurance has social management function is an objective understanding of the inherent characteristics of the insurance industry in a specific historical stage and a scientific summary of the insurance industry's participation in social risk management and its important role. The social management function of insurance is mainly embodied in: stabilizing economic life; Improve the social security system; Improve the corporate governance structure; Activate the savings mechanism; Promote the development of export-oriented economy; Conducive to the construction of the national public affairs emergency system; Relieve social contradictions; Promote scientific and technological innovation. A comprehensive and scientific understanding of the social management function of insurance is conducive to better guiding insurance practice and promoting the all-round progress of the insurance industry.

First, the evolution of the understanding of insurance function

The development of insurance function theory in China has gone through three stages: the first stage can be called "single function theory", that is, the traditional insurance function theory holds that insurance only has the function of economic compensation (or payment); The second stage can be called "dual function theory", which not only recognizes the economic compensation function of insurance, but also thinks that insurance has the function of financing; The third stage can be called "three-function theory", represented by Wu Dingfu, chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, who expounded the insurance function after he took office. He believes that modern insurance has three functions at the same time: economic compensation, financial intermediary and social management. Matter determines consciousness, and consciousness is the reflection of matter. Similarly, the understanding of insurance function also depends on the level of economic and social development at that time. Therefore, the understanding of insurance function is a dynamic evolution process, and every improvement of understanding will in turn promote the further development of insurance industry. With the changes of the times, especially the gradual advancement of market economy, the understanding of insurance function has gone through a process from simple to mature, from single to rich. In this process, the connotation and extension of insurance function are constantly expanding. The insurance function theory of "ternary theory" is the inevitable result of the development of this cognitive process.

Commercial insurance originated from Italian marine insurance in the second half of the14th century, and was developed on the basis of cooperative insurance of guilds. A member is both an insurer and an insured. This fashion has not introduced actuarial technology, and it is still a low-level form of insurance. The only function of insurance is economic compensation, which is reflected in the insurance distribution relationship among members. Due to the lack of scientific and reasonable mathematical and technical support, the role of insurance is greatly limited. /kloc-in the second half of the 0/7th century, actuarial science came into being, which transformed theoretical life insurance into practical life insurance and created a new situation in the development of life insurance. Mathematically speaking, insurance, as a means of risk transfer, mainly uses the risk aggregation mechanism to gather policyholders with risk aversion preferences, collect premiums to establish insurance funds, and make economic compensation and compensation for a small number of policyholders who have insurance accidents, thus realizing the dispersion of risks among policyholders. This is the economic compensation and payment function of insurance. The solution of insurance management technology has greatly improved the function of insurance economic compensation. At this stage, the society has fully understood the economic compensation function of insurance, and the traditional "economic compensation theory" was mainly formed at this stage.

Since then, with the establishment of capitalist relations of production, the market economy has been greatly developed, and the financial market has gradually become the main artery of economic life. The most basic function of modern finance is to allocate the time and space of savings resources and realize the transformation from savings to investment. As a part of the financial industry chain, the insurance industry undertakes and plays the role of financial intermediary. The financial function of the insurance industry is mainly reflected in: on the one hand, it obtains and diverts part of social savings through underwriting business, on the other hand, it meets the future payment demand by investing and using the accumulated insurance funds. Most of the funds absorbed by the insurance system (especially life insurance) are long-term funds, which is the main feature different from bank savings funds. With the growth of the insurance industry, many commercial insurance companies in western developed countries, as "contractual savings institutions", take advantage of their stable sources of funds, long term and large scale, and become important institutional investors and stable forces in the capital market through shareholding and mutual participation. As one of the most active members of financial intermediaries, its financial intermediation function has gradually gained popularity. This stage has continued to this day and maintained a good momentum of development, and the financial intermediary function of insurance has been paid more and more attention by the society.

With the development of insurance industry and the deepening of insurance research, the understanding of social management function of insurance has been deepened. Generally speaking, scholars of different times and different economic backgrounds have different opinions on insurance-related issues, but it is difficult to have a unified understanding, but there is a significant convergence in their understanding of the social management function of insurance. With the acceleration of world economic integration and financial globalization, the development of the world insurance industry is increasingly showing a significant trend of internationalization and specialization, and social development and people's needs are also showing diversified characteristics. As one of the three pillars of the financial industry, insurance plays an important role in coordinating social and economic life, improving social operation efficiency and improving people's quality of life with a more positive attitude, which fully embodies the social management function of insurance. Economist Peter. F Drucker said that in 18, 19 and the 20th century, insurance and risk management played the same important role as enterprises and businesses in promoting economic progress in the western world. Peter. L. Bernstein also pointed out in his book Struggle against Fate: Noteworthy Risks that a society's ability to recognize, measure and manage risks is the main difference between modern society and ancient society. Therefore, President Wu Dingfu's high generalization and summary of the social management function of insurance can be regarded as an objective understanding of the inherent characteristics of the insurance industry in a specific historical stage and a scientific summary of the insurance industry's participation in social risk management and its important role.

Second, the connotation, embodiment and significance of the social management function of insurance

(A) the connotation of social management function of insurance

In essence, the social management function of insurance mainly promotes economic development by promoting the allocation efficiency of social resources. There are two views on the ways in which finance promotes economic growth. One view is that a country's financial system promotes economic development by increasing the rate of capital accumulation, so it should rely on savings financial institutions to actively introduce foreign capital; Another view is that finance helps economic development by improving the efficiency of social capital allocation, so the promotion of productivity and economic efficiency by financial institutions is as important as capital accumulation in economic development. Insurance has exactly the characteristics advocated by these two viewpoints. The insurance industry improves the social capital accumulation rate by gathering risk compensation funds, and participates in various fields of economic construction and social life at the same time. It promotes the rational allocation of social resources through a unique exchange mechanism, improves the efficiency of capital allocation of the whole society, objectively plays a dual role of "stabilizer" and "booster", and provides reliable institutional support for the healthy operation of social economy. The traditional single-function theory of insurance holds that the insurer is only a risk transmission mechanism. But in fact, the function of insurance may not be as important to economic development as other elements of insurance. Because insurance is not only a simple financial balance sheet, it also provides other powerful support for economic activities and long-term growth. Harold Jr. Skybo, an American insurance scholar, pointed out in 1998 that insurance can provide seven important services for economic development, such as replacing government guarantee, promoting trade and commerce, encouraging impairment and promoting effective risk management. The stakeholder theory of modern enterprise theory also provides theoretical support for the social management function of insurance industry. Modern enterprise theory holds that an enterprise is a * * * organization composed of shareholders, creditors, employees, managers, affiliated enterprises and customers, and it is a collection of contracts concluded among these stakeholders. Therefore, modern enterprises must consider safeguarding the interests of stakeholders in corporate governance in order to implement effective governance. This theory strengthens the social management responsibility of enterprises. When constructing corporate governance structure and daily operation, insurance enterprises should pay attention to protecting the interests of stakeholders, fulfill corresponding social responsibilities, pursue both economic and social benefits, give full play to social management functions, and promote all-round social progress. On the other hand, social and economic progress will promote the development of insurance industry, and there is an objective relationship between them. Generally speaking, the market economy sub-markets of countries with different levels of development are very different, and so is the insurance market. Other things being equal, the more developed and effective a country's insurance market is, the greater its contribution to economic prosperity will be.

Therefore, economic compensation is the basic function of insurance, and financial intermediary and social management are the derivative functions of insurance. With the economic development and social progress, the social management function of insurance will be strengthened continuously, which has been verified by the development practice of insurance industry in developed countries.

(B) the embodiment of the social management function of insurance

1. Stabilize economic life and provide "sleep insurance" for the society. Insurance fixes uncertain possible losses in the future through predetermined expenditures, thus stabilizing the financial situation of individuals, families and organizations, helping to form psychological expectations of economic security, creating conditions for the smooth operation of economic life, and objectively playing the role of "night watchman" described by classical economics. Modern Bao

With the continuous development of insurance technology, many uninsurable risks have gradually become insurable risks, the scope and depth of insurance services have been continuously expanded, and the social management function of insurance will become more and more prominent.

2. Improve the social security system and reduce the burden on the government. Insurance is also widely used to solve government policy problems. Life insurance is of great significance for establishing a perfect social security system. As early as 1987, the OECD pointed out in a research report that the sale of life insurance policies undoubtedly reduced the pressure on social welfare systems in many countries. In the same year, a research report of Swiss Reinsurance Company also pointed out that in 10 OECD countries, there is an inverse relationship between social security expenditure and life insurance premium, that is, the insurance industry effectively shares part of the financial pressure of social security. In China, the imperfection of social security system has become the main restrictive factor to expand domestic demand and start consumption. If it is not solved properly, it will inevitably affect the long-term economic development and social stability of China. With the increasing number of elderly people in China, the competition faced by domestic enterprises has intensified after China's entry into WTO, and the contradiction of insufficient social security funds will become more and more prominent. According to the calculation of relevant experts, the payment gap of social security funds for old-age care, medical care and unemployment in China is about 67.3 billion yuan per year. At the same time, according to the social security department's estimation, the reconstruction cost is about 2 trillion yuan. With such a large debt scale, it is really unrealistic and impossible for the government to completely solve the annual social security fund gap in a short period of time, but social security cannot be broken. On the other hand, China's regional development is very uneven, and the demand for living security is diversified and multi-level. The demand for commercial insurance, such as pension, enterprise annuity, health, medical care and education expenditure, which is closely related to social life, has great potential, providing a broad stage for China's commercial insurance to give full play to its social management function, reduce government pressure and promote the reform of state-owned enterprises.

3. Promote the effective allocation of capital and improve the corporate governance structure. Insurance companies should collect a lot of information about enterprises, projects and managers when underwriting and using funds. Generally speaking, a single depositor or investor lacks the time, resources or ability to collect such a large amount of information, while insurance companies have the advantage of effectively allocating financial capital and taking risks. At the same time, insurance companies, as institutional investors, exercise the right of "voting with their hands" or "voting with their feet" in the capital market, which has a decisive influence on operators, effectively constrains operators' illegal behaviors and forms effective external governance, which is conducive to forming a good corporate governance structure, strengthening the incentive and restraint mechanism, rationally allocating residual claims and residual control rights, solving the principal-agent problem, promoting rational allocation of capital and improving the operating performance of listed companies. In countries with developed insurance industry, powerful insurance companies, especially life insurance companies, as institutional investors in financial markets, have played an important role in the stability of financial markets.

4. Activate the savings mechanism to promote economic development. Economists generally believe that there is a positive correlation between savings rate and economic growth rate, but there are many transmission channels. As one of the financial intermediaries, insurance has three advantages in improving the efficiency of financial intermediaries, which can effectively improve the operating efficiency of the financial system: first, it reduces the transaction cost of combining depositors and borrowers; The second is to create liquidity; Third, it is conducive to the formation of economies of scale for investment. Compared with commercial banks, long-term liabilities and stable cash flow of insurance companies are ideal long-term financing channels for governments and enterprises. The degree of development of a country's financial system is directly proportional to its dependence on the market and inversely proportional to its dependence on financial intermediaries, that is, it depends on the degree of information symmetry. Therefore, the financial intermediary role of insurance companies in the financial markets of emerging countries is greater than that of developed countries. For China's imperfect financial market, the role of the insurance industry is far from being brought into play, with great potential.

5. Promote the development of export-oriented economy. The higher the degree of specialization of modern economy, the higher the requirements for financial specialization and flexibility. If there are a variety of insurance products to choose from and there are enough guarantees, trade and commerce will go smoothly, otherwise it will be greatly hindered. For example, export credit insurance is an important policy means for the government to promote foreign trade and deepen the reform of foreign trade system. Known as "lubricant for business activities", it is also an important field for insurance companies to open up markets and improve their competitiveness. According to statistics, at present, 12%- 15% of the global trade volume is realized with the support of export credit insurance, which is 50% in Japan, 45% in Britain, 2 1% in France and 14% in South Korea. In China, export credit insurance has played a preliminary role, but the overall level is low. The export trade volume guaranteed by export credit insurance only accounts for 1. 1% of the total export volume, and the insured enterprises only account for 2.7% of the total foreign trade enterprises in China, which shows that China's insurance industry has insufficient promotion to the export-oriented economy and has great potential in this field.

6. It is conducive to building a national public affairs emergency system. Whether a country has a complete public affairs emergency system is an important criterion to measure a country's comprehensive development level. Dr. C. Arthur Jr. Dr. Williams, an American risk management and insurance expert, pointed out that the probability of disasters coming to rich and poor countries is the same, such as the earthquake in Japan and the flood in Bangladesh, but if a society can control and mitigate these disasters, it can better apply its resources to economic and social development. In modern society, all kinds of catastrophe risks and unexpected events go hand in hand, which have caused certain troubles to a country's economic construction and social stability, such as the flood in China in 1998, the Jiashi earthquake in Xinjiang in February and May 2003, and the atypical pneumonia incident this year. Moreover, with the progress of science and technology and the evolution of world political forces, the unpredictability of catastrophe risk has deepened, and once it happens, the degree of harm is even more serious, resulting in far greater economic losses and social impacts than before, such as 1986 Chernobyl nuclear leak in the former Soviet Union, the "9.1"terrorist incident in 2006+0, and Colombia in 2003. Taking China as an example, after the outbreak of SARS, life insurance companies also launched their own SARS insurance, which provided a risk aversion mechanism for the society, eased people's anxiety, played a positive role in stabilizing the society, and was widely praised by the society. As of May 2003 12, China Life Insurance Company * * * accepted 236 SARS claims, and paid 104, with a total compensation amount of 886,800 yuan.

7. Relieve social contradictions, coordinate social relations and promote the normal operation of society. There are often many disharmonious factors in social and economic operation. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a perfect social risk management mechanism, especially to give full play to the social management function of insurance, eliminate the friction between various factors, reduce contradictions, establish a good social order, and ensure the normal operation of society. The insurance industry is also promising. For example, liability insurance is conducive to the parties to fulfill their corresponding civil responsibilities, resolve disputes and coordinate civil relations. Developed countries have complete liability insurance systems, such as product liability insurance, employer liability insurance, professional liability insurance, public liability insurance and motor vehicle third party liability insurance. Once the insured has a liability accident, it can be solved quickly through the insurance company, without being entangled in protracted litigation, reducing social friction and conflict, and the whole society can operate efficiently. In recent years, medical malpractice disputes occur frequently in China, and huge litigation cases are on the rise. Domestic insurance companies have successively introduced medical liability insurance, which not only achieved economic benefits, but also produced good social benefits, and was widely welcomed by both doctors and patients and the society. Although there are still many places to be improved, it fully shows that insurance has great potential in social management.

8. Promote scientific and technological innovation and provide risk protection for the development of high-tech industries. High risk and high investment are a major feature of high technology. In order to ensure the safety and continuous investment of venture capital, it must be guaranteed from the system design. As an effective means of risk management, insurance industry has unique advantages in promoting high-tech development. At present, the marriage of commercial insurance and high technology is prevalent all over the world. Insurance companies underwrite high-tech projects by scientifically and reasonably calculating the guarantee cost of venture capital. In case the project is unsuccessful, the insurance company will bear some risks. Insurance companies have also carried out high-tech transfer insurance to promote scientific and technological achievements to enter the technology market, improve the transaction rate, improve the enthusiasm of enterprises to adopt high technology, and effectively promote the development of high-tech industries.

(C) a comprehensive understanding of the significance of social management functions of insurance

Theory comes from practice, and practice guides practice. A comprehensive and scientific understanding of the functions of insurance is conducive to better guiding insurance practice and promoting the all-round progress of the insurance industry.

1. is conducive to enhancing the position of the insurance industry in the national economy and accelerating its development. In recent years, China's insurance industry has developed rapidly, maintaining an average annual growth rate of 30%, giving full play to various functions of insurance and effectively promoting social stability and prosperity.

, has caused certain influence in the society. In the long run, China's insurance industry has great potential. But horizontally, the overall scale of China's insurance market is still very small, which is not the same as that of developed countries. Compared with domestic securities industry and banking industry, there is still a big gap, and it has a low position in the financial industry and society. According to statistics, by the end of 2002, the national premium income was 305,365.438 billion yuan and the total assets of the insurance industry were 6,494.438 billion yuan. By the end of 2002 10, the total assets of securities companies nationwide were 666 billion yuan, while the total market value of securities in the same period was 38,3291300 million yuan, and the circulating market value was12,484.56 billion yuan. By the end of September 2002, the total assets of China's banking industry were 654.38 billion yuan+937.78 billion yuan. Therefore, fully understanding and exploring the social management function of insurance and closely linking the development of insurance industry with social progress will help all sectors of society to enhance their sense of identity with the insurance industry, and help the insurance industry to better enter thousands of households, serve the society and benefit the people.

2. It is conducive to promoting insurance business entities to expand business ideas and enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises. The proposal of social management function extends the extension of insurance service from the understanding, which is of great guiding significance to insurance business practice, and is conducive to guiding insurance companies to better formulate long-term development strategies, be brave in innovation in business activities, pay attention to the interests of the insured, actively participate in social management, shape the image of insurance industry's credit responsibility, better play the due role of commercial insurance, and achieve "win-win" of economic and social benefits.

3. It is conducive to correctly handling the relationship between the development and supervision of the insurance industry. The guidance and comments of the insurance regulatory authorities often have a strong "window effect" on the insurance business entities and have far-reaching influence. Promoting the development of insurance industry is the primary task of insurance supervision at present, and the goal of supervision is to promote the healthy development of insurance industry and better realize the interests of the insured. Giving full play to the social management function of the insurance industry is also one of the important ways to accelerate the development of the insurance industry. Strengthening insurance supervisors' understanding of the social management function of insurance is conducive to unifying the supervision understanding within the system of insurance supervision organs, rationalizing the relationship between insurance supervision and development, and handling the relationship between "promising" and "inaction". The future development trend of China's insurance supervision is to focus on solvency supervision, pay equal attention to on-site supervision and off-site supervision, and pay more attention to the role of guiding regulations and opinions, which need the support of insurance theory broadening and innovation. The social management function of insurance objectively plays a certain role of "window guidance".

Three, give full play to the social management function of insurance countermeasures

(1) Insurance theorists should strengthen the research on the social management function of insurance, and provide theoretical support and guidance for insurance practice. Theoretical researchers must examine the connotation of insurance function from the perspective of development and openness, deepen their understanding of insurance function, closely link the development of insurance industry with social progress, and guide and promote the innovative activities of insurance practice.

(2) In business practice, an insurance business entity shall blaze new trails and give full play to the social management function of the insurance industry. At present, we should do a good job in the following aspects:

1. Insurance company building. Promote the reform of state-owned insurance companies, improve the governance structure of joint-stock insurance companies, establish a scientific and reasonable incentive and restraint system, strengthen the construction of internal control system, pay attention to controlling business risks, and improve the management assessment system. When the time is ripe, it can promote the listing of insurance companies, which is conducive to establishing a modern enterprise system, enhancing solvency, better adapting to international competition, and realizing the preservation and appreciation of state-owned assets. Only when the insurance industry is healthy can it provide health services to the society.

2. Product innovation. Pay attention to exploring market demand, adhere to consumption orientation, innovate product structure and meet social security needs. In particular, we attach importance to the development of enterprise annuity, supplementary medical insurance, medical liability insurance, elderly care insurance, children's education and marriage insurance, and consumer loan guarantee insurance, and actively explore and vigorously develop export credit insurance to provide protection for China's import and export undertakings; Explore new ways of agriculture and rural insurance to provide support for solving the "three rural" problems.

3. Straighten out the insurance sales system. Give full play to the market role of professional insurance intermediaries, improve the main structure of the insurance market, reform the insurance salesman system, strengthen the management of part-time insurance agents, straighten out the problem of insurance charges, establish brand management awareness, cultivate an honest management system in the whole society, fundamentally solve the problem of misleading fraud, effectively protect the interests of policyholders, and strive to enhance the social image of the insurance industry.

4. Expand the scope of insurance services. Cooperate with the strategic adjustment of the national economic structure, seize the opportunity of expanding domestic demand and developing the western region, improve the underwriting level of large-scale risk projects, and provide insurance protection for infrastructure construction and key projects; Explore new channels for the use of insurance funds, consider participating in infrastructure construction by purchasing bonds and participating in trust and investment plans, and strengthen the risk management of fund use; Develop new insurance to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.

5. Explore the field of high-risk insurance. Actively explore the insurance financing technology of catastrophe risk and high-tech risk, establish catastrophe and high-tech development guarantee fund, improve the risk resolution ability of society through the way of commercial insurance leading and appropriate government support, provide strong support for the country to establish public affairs emergency system, and escort high-tech development.

(3) Insurance regulatory authorities should adhere to market orientation and establish development concepts. Innovate the supervision system, improve the supervision mode and strengthen the supervision means to create a good market environment for the insurance industry to play its social management function. At present, it is mainly to do the following work well: First, establish rules and regulations, speed up the construction of insurance laws and regulations, adhere to supervision and management according to law, introduce supporting rules of insurance law as soon as possible, and introduce penalties for insurance violations. Second, correctly handle the relationship between "promising" and "inaction", resolutely return power to the market for all problems that the market can solve, reasonably define the effective boundary between regulators and the market to play a supervisory role, and give full play to the subjective initiative and creativity of market subjects; Insurance regulatory authorities should strengthen coordination and communication with relevant government departments, draw a reasonable line between the headquarters and local insurance regulatory bureaus, give full play to the role of social forces and insurance industry associations, and improve the level of comprehensive management and joint supervision. Third, strengthen basic research, focus on the industrial policy of the insurance industry in combination with the national macroeconomic development trend, and formulate a long-term development plan for the insurance industry to play its social management function; The fourth is to straighten out the insurance market relationship. Before the solvency supervision can not achieve obvious results at this stage, we should strengthen the compliance inspection of insurance business, severely investigate and deal with all kinds of illegal acts in the insurance market, eradicate the root causes and create a fair competitive market environment.

Further reading: How to buy insurance, which is good, and teach you how to avoid these "pits" of insurance.