Insurance vs The Station Nightclub Fire
Insurance Vs History
Insurance vs the Station Nightclub Fire Without giving my age away entirely, I will admit…I’m a child of the 80s. I’ve been lucky enough to have seen several of my favorite 80s artists perform their greatest hits. It never crossed my mind that something could go wrong during a concert and I might be in danger. But on February 2, 2003, more than 400 people who also loved the 1980s attended a concert at the Station Nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island. But that night, something went wrong. A fire broke out at the concert, resulting in 100 deaths and 230 injuries. When bad things...
info_outline
Insurance vs The Atlantic Slave Trade
Insurance Vs History
Three years ago, when I started thinking about making a podcast about insurance and history, I had only one topic in mind: slavery. It took three years of reading and researching before I was ready to share it with you, but this episode represents part one of a three-part series about insurance and slavery—an overview of the Atlantic Slave trade and how insurance contributed to and supported that trade. It’s a tough topic, but an important one, for insurance professionals and history buffs alike. This is a story about how capitalism developed in Europe and the Americas, about colonialism,...
info_outline
Insurance vs Enron
Insurance Vs History
For the first episode of Season 3, I’m talking about Enron and the company’s spectacular rise and even more spectacular fall. It’s a story about how creativity can sometimes mean stupidity, how culture impacts a company’s survival, how hiring decisions matter, how ideas mutate, and how companies that put stock price and profits above all else can easily be the architects of their own demise. And--how blind people can be about a lot of things if what they are doing is making money. Who was responsible for Enron? What were the major causes of its bankruptcy? Who spoke up, and who...
info_outline
Insurance vs Gawker and Hulk Hogan
Insurance Vs History
How can insurance save a company from bankruptcy? How does litigation funding work? Why did a lawsuit about a famous wrestler’s sex tape become a warning to journalists everywhere about the power of Silicon Valley? Welcome to the Insurance vs History Podcast! In this episode, I talk about a case called Bollea v Gawker, which involved Hulk Hogan’s sex tape, and Gawker, one of the first big online news organizations. It also involved tech mogul Peter Theil and a vendetta that resulted in Gawker’s demise. This is the story of how insurance could have saved Gawker, but didn’t—and the...
info_outline
Insurance vs King Hammurabi of Babylon
Insurance Vs History
Was King Hammurabi’s Code the first written mention of insurance? How did insurance come to be, after all? And how does history change over time? Welcome to the Insurance vs History Podcast! In this episode, I talk about King Hammurabi’s Code, often considered to be the first legal code ever written and the first written mention of insurance. But is that really the case? Join me to find out! Selected Sources and Links: 1. 2. 3. Sea Loans at Ugarit, Jonathan Ziskind, Journal of...
info_outline
Insurance vs The Mystery of Helen Brach and Horse Insurance Fraud
Insurance Vs History
Insurance vs The Mystery of Helen Brach and Horse Insurance Fraud How did the disappearance of a candy heiress result in the discovery of an insurance fraud ring? And were people hiring someone to murder their horses? Welcome to the Insurance vs History Podcast! In this episode, I tackle the true crime story of Helen Brach, and how the investigation into her disappearance revealed an organized insurance fraud ring involving expensive horses, changes in the US tax law, and terrible people. Fair warning: I use one swear word. Selected Sources and Links: ...
info_outline
Insurance vs The NRA
Insurance Vs History
How has the NRA impacted insurance? And why are insurers being asked to regulate the gun industry? Welcome to the Insurance vs History Podcast! In this episode, I try and tackle the NRA’s impact on the insurance industry, as well as discuss a new wrinkle in the discussion of gun safety: asking the insurance industry to take a regulatory role. Sources and Links: Note: This is only a selection. There was a LOT here, and I read a lot of stuff from “both sides of the aisle” so to speak. I tried to include articles with the most facts and not as many opinions or with more insurance...
info_outline
Insurance vs The Movies: Double Indemnity
Insurance Vs History
Is Double Indemnity the best insurance movie ever? Is double indemnity even a real thing? Welcome to the Insurance vs History Podcast! In this episode, I discuss the movie Double Indemnity starring Fred McMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G Robinson, and the concept of double indemnity in the insurance industry. Sources and Links: Limitation of Risk in Double Indemnity Clause, Columbia Law Review, Vol 31, No 8 (Dec 1931), pp. 1368-1369 Interpretation of “Accidental Means” in Double Indemnity Clause, Michigan Law Review, Vol 50, No 6 (April 1952), pp. 942-944 Books: Movies: ...
info_outline
Insurance vs Tontines! Tontines! Tontines!
Insurance Vs History
Murder. Intrigue. And a financial product that bets on the death of people you don’t know. Tontines! Welcome to the Insurance vs History Podcast! In this episode, I dig into the rise and fall of the tontine, a unique life insurance product that includes a mortality lottery. How did a financial product build bridges and real estate, fund wars, and even contribute to the French revolution? I'm talking Kings, Insurance Barons, and estimating who would live longest. What could be more exciting? Sources and Links: Books: Milevsky has a nice history of tontines in here, and then a discussion of...
info_outline
Insurance vs Eliot Spitzer
Insurance Vs History
When a secretive industry meets an ambitious attorney general, what happens next? Welcome to the Insurance vs History Podcast! In this episode, I discuss Eliot Spitzer’s attempt to reform the insurance industry: specifically, the 2004 investigation into the big three insurance brokers and contingent commissions. Sources and Links: Written in late 2004. A good overview. Books: This is a more general book that covers his entire life up until about 2010 and goes into a lot of detail about the sex scandal. The author did sit down with Spitzer and there is a documentary based on...
info_outlineThree years ago, when I started thinking about making a podcast about insurance and history, I had only one topic in mind: slavery. It took three years of reading and researching before I was ready to share it with you, but this episode represents part one of a three-part series about insurance and slavery—an overview of the Atlantic Slave trade and how insurance contributed to and supported that trade. It’s a tough topic, but an important one, for insurance professionals and history buffs alike. This is a story about how capitalism developed in Europe and the Americas, about colonialism, the cost of labor, transcontinental marine shipping of kidnapped human beings, and how insurance supported all these things. And how underwriters decide what to insure, and how to insure it.
Selected Sources and Links:
Sources with Paywall:
- Inherent Vice: Marine Insurance, slave ship rebellion and the law, Anita Rupprecht, Race and Class, 2016, Volume 57 p 31-44
- Measuring the unmeasured hazards of the Atlantic slave trade: documents relating to the British trade, Joseph E. Inikori, Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer, tome 83, n°312, 3e trimestre 1996. pp. 53-92.
- Slavery, Insurance and the Law, Michael Lobban, The Journal of Legal History, 2007, Vol 28, p 319-328
- The Zong in the Context of the 18th Century Slave Trade, Jane Webster, The Journal of Legal History, Vol. 28, No. 3, December 2007, pp. 285–298
- Commercial Risk and Capital Formation in Early America: Virginia Merchants and the Rise of American Marine Insurance, 1750-1815 Author(s): A. Glenn Crothers Source: The Business History Review, Winter, 2004, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Winter, 2004), pp. 607-633
- Dead or Alive: Racial Finance and the Corpse-Value of the African American Slave Body, Bride A. , J Hist Sociol. 2020;33:99–115.
- Insuring the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Pearson, R., & Richardson, D., The Journal of Economic History, 79(2), 417-446
Books:
- Capitalism & Slavery: Williams, Eric, Palmer, Colin A., Darity, William A., Jr.: 9781469663685: Amazon.com: Books
- The SLAVE TRADE: THE STORY OF THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE: 1440 - 1870: Thomas, Hugh: 9780684835655: Amazon.com: Books
- Amazon.com: Over the Edge of the World Updated Edition: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe: 9780062890481: Bergreen, Laurence: Books
- Freedom's Debt: The Royal African Company and the Politics of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1672-1752 (Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early ... and the University of North Carolina Press): Pettigrew, William A.: 9781469629858: Amazon.com: Books
- Specters of the Atlantic: Finance Capital, Slavery, and the Philosophy of History: Baucom, Ian: 9780822335962: Amazon.com: Books
- The Slave Ship: A Human History: Rediker, Marcus: 9780143114253: Amazon.com: Books
- Encyclopedia of the Middle Passage: Greenwood Milestones in African American History: Falola, Toyin, Falola, Toyin, Warnock, Amanda B., Warnock, Amanda B.: 9780313334801: Amazon.com: Books
- A history of Lloyd's from the founding of Lloyd's coffee house to the present day : Wright, Charles : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
- Armstrong, T. “Slavery Insurance and Sacrifice in the Black Atlantic.” In Sea Changes: Historicising the Ocean, edited by Bernard Klein and Gesa Mackenthun. New York/London: Routledge, 2004.
Music Credits:
- Boulangerie by Jeremy Sherman, courtesy of NeoSounds: Boulangerie, LynneMusic | NeoSounds music library
Contact Me:
Website: https://insurancevshistory.libsyn.com
Contact me!
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @ insurancevshistory
Facebook: Insurance vs History | Facebook