1.5. You are an insurance agent who must write a policy for a new client named Sam. His company, Society for Creative Alternatives to Mayonnaise (SCAM), is working on a low-fat, low-cholesterol mayonnaise substitute for the sandwich-condiment industry. The sandwich industry will pay top dollar to the first inventor to patent such a mayonnaise substitute. Sam’s SCAM seems like a very risky proposition to you. You have calculated his possible returns table as follows:

a. What is the expected return of Sam’s project? What is the variance?

b. What is the most that Sam is willing to pay for insurance? Assume Sam is risk neutral.

c. Suppose you found out that the Japanese are on the verge of introducing their own mayonnaise substitute next month. Sam does not know this and has just turned down your final offer of $1000 for the insurance. Assume that Sam tells you SCAM is only six months away from perfecting its mayonnaise substitute and that you know what you know about the Japanese. Would you raise or lower your policy premium on any subsequent proposal to Sam? Based on his information, would Sam accept?

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Probability Return .999 -$1,000,000 Outcome (he fails) .001 $1,000,000,000 (he succeeds and sells his formula)