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Abstract: The proposition that insurance has social management function is an objective understanding of the inherent characteristics of the insurance industry at a specific historical stage and a scientific summary of its 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; Is conducive to the construction of 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.

I. Evolution of the understanding of insurance function

Today, the theory of insurance function in China has mainly gone through three stages of development: the first stage can be called "single function theory", that is, the traditional theory of insurance function 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", which is represented by Wu Dingfu, chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, who expounded the insurance function after he took office. He thinks that modern insurance has three functions at the same time: economic compensation, financial intermediation and social management. Matter determines consciousness, and consciousness is a 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 each improvement of understanding will in turn promote the further development of insurance industry. With the change of the times, especially the gradual advancement of the market economy, the understanding of insurance function has gone through a process from simple to mature, and from single to rich. In this process, the connotation and extension of insurance function have been continuously expanded. The insurance function theory of "ternary theory" is the inevitable result of the development of this cognitive process.

Commercial insurance originated in Italy's marine insurance in the second half of the 14th century, and developed on the basis of cooperative insurance of guilds. Members are both insurers and insured. This fashion did not introduce actuarial technology, and it is still in the 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 function of insurance is greatly limited. In the second half of the 17th century, actuarial science came into being, which transformed the theoretical life insurance into the 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 collect policyholders with risk aversion preferences and collect premiums to establish an insurance fund, so as to make economic compensation and payment for a few insured persons 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 promoted 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" is 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 bears and plays the role of financial intermediation. The financial function of the insurance industry is mainly reflected in: on the one hand, it obtains and diverts some social savings through underwriting business, on the other hand, it uses the accumulated insurance funds through investment to meet the future payment needs. Most of the funds absorbed by the insurance system (especially life insurance) are long-term funds, which is the main feature that distinguishes it from bank savings funds. With the growth of the insurance industry, many commercial insurance companies in western developed countries, as "contractual savings institutions", play the advantages of 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, their fund-raising function is gradually deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. This stage has continued to this day and maintained a good momentum of development, and the financial intermediation 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 insurance industry in the world 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 insurance and risk management played as important a role in promoting the economic progress of the western world in the 18th, 19th and 2th centuries as enterprises and businesses did. Peter. L. Bernstein also pointed out in the book "Fighting against Fate: Noteworthy Risks" that the ability of a society to understand, 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 at 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

(I) the connotation of the 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 way that finance promotes economic growth. One view is that a country's financial system contributes to economic development by increasing the capital accumulation rate, so it should rely on savings financial institutions and actively introduce foreign capital; Another view is that finance helps economic development by improving the efficiency of social capital allocation, so the promotion function of financial institutions for productivity and economic efficiency is as important as capital accumulation in economic development. Insurance has exactly the characteristics advocated by these two viewpoints. The insurance industry improves the capital accumulation rate of society by gathering risk compensation funds, participates in various fields of economic construction and social life at the same time, promotes the rational distribution 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 insurance single function theory 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, but also provides other powerful support for economic activities and long-term growth. American insurance scholar Harold Jr. In 1998, Scherbo pointed out that insurance can provide seven important services for economic development, such as replacing government security, 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 between 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 not only economic benefits, but also social benefits, give full play to social management functions, and promote overall 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, there are great differences among the sub-markets of market economy in countries with different levels of development, and so are the insurance markets. Other things being equal, the more developed and efficient 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 intermediation and social management are the derivative functions of insurance. With the economic development and social progress, the social management function of insurance will be continuously strengthened, which has been verified by the development practice of insurance industry in developed countries.

(II) Embodiment of social management function of insurance

1. Stabilize economic life and provide "sleeping insurance" for the society. Insurance fixes the uncertain possible losses in the future through predetermined expenditures, thus stabilizing the financial situation of individuals, families and organizations, helping to form the psychological expectation of economic security, creating conditions for the smooth operation of economic life, and objectively playing the role of "night watchman" described by classical economics. With the continuous development of modern insurance technology, many uninsurable risks have gradually become insurable risks, the scope and depth of insurance services have been continuously broadened, 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 building 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 there is an inverse relationship between social security expenditure and life insurance premium in 1 OECD countries, that is, the insurance industry effectively shared part of the financial pressure of social security. In our country, the imperfection of social security system has become the main restrictive factor affecting the current expansion of domestic demand and the start of consumption. If it is not solved well, it will inevitably affect China's long-term economic development and social stability. With the increasing number of elderly people in China, the competition faced by domestic enterprises after China's entry into WTO has intensified, 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 in China's pension, medical care and unemployment is about 67.3 billion yuan per year. At the same time, according to the estimation of social security department, the cost of transformation is about 2 billion yuan. With such a large debt scale and the annual social security fund gap, it is really unrealistic and impossible for the government to solve it completely in the short term, but social security cannot produce a fault. On the other hand, China's regional development is very uneven, and the demand for life security is diversified and multi-level. The demand for commercial insurance, such as elderly care, enterprise annuity, health, medical care and education expenses, which is closely related to social life, has great potential, which provides 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. Insurers should collect a lot of information about enterprises, projects and managers when underwriting and using funds. Generally, a single depositor or investor lacks the time, resources or ability to collect such a large amount of information, while an insurer has 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 restricts operators' illegal behavior, forms effective external governance, is conducive to forming a good corporate governance structure, strengthens the incentive and restraint mechanism, rationally allocates residual claim rights and residual control rights, solves the principal-agent problem, promotes the rational allocation of capital and improves the operating performance of listed companies. In countries with developed insurance industry, powerful insurance companies, especially life insurance companies, as institutional investors in the financial market, have played an important role in the stability of the financial market.

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 ways to transmit it. As one of the financial intermediaries, insurance has three advantages in improving the efficiency of financial intermediation, 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 steady 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 is greater in the financial markets of emerging countries than in developed countries. For China's imperfect financial market, the role of the insurance industry is far from being brought into play and has 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 sufficient protection, trade and commerce will proceed 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. It is known as the "lubricant for business activities" and 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 5% in Japan, 45% in Britain, 21% 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, and the insured enterprises only account for 2.7% of the total foreign trade enterprises in China. This 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 the construction of the national public emergency system. Whether a country has a complete emergency system for public affairs is an important criterion to measure a country's comprehensive development level. American risk management and insurance expert C. Arthur Jr. Dr. Williams pointed out that the probability of disasters coming to rich countries and poor countries is the same, such as the earthquake in Japan and the flood in Bangladesh, but if a society can control and alleviate these disasters, it can better apply its resources to economic and social development. In modern society, all kinds of catastrophe risks and unexpected events follow, which have caused certain troubles to a country's economic construction and social stability, such as the flood in 1998, the Jiashi earthquake in Xinjiang in February and May 23, and the atypical pneumonia incident this year. Moreover, with the progress of science and technology and the evolution of world political forces, the unpredictable degree of catastrophe risk has deepened, and once it occurs, the degree of harm is even more serious, resulting in far greater economic losses and social impact than before, such as the Soviet Union before 1986.