This paper studies how private equity creates value and its consequences for consumer welfare in the insurance industry, where PE investments grew tenfold following the financial crisis. PE firms add value through regulatory and tax arbitrage that increases profits relative to their non-PE counterparts. Crucially, the impact on consumer welfare is nuanced: in the short run, consumers benefit from more favorably priced products. But the arbitrage strategy also exposes them to more risk, as annual expected losses scaled by capital buffers rise by 50 percentage points. This creates the possibility of consumer harm in the event of a downturn.

中文翻译：

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私募股权的不同之处：来自人寿保险的证据

本文研究私募股权如何创造价值及其对保险行业消费者福利的影响，金融危机后私募股权投资增长了十倍。私募股权公司通过监管和税收套利增加价值，相对于非私募股权公司增加利润。至关重要的是，对消费者福利的影响是微妙的：短期内，消费者受益于价格更优惠的产品。但套利策略也让他们面临更多风险，因为资本缓冲规模的年度预期损失上升了 50 个百分点。这可能会在经济衰退时损害消费者的利益。