Australian psychiatrist and economist Doron Samuell has won a global award for his research into consumer behaviour in insurance.

Dr Samuell and his collaborators – Professor Demetris Christodoulou, Professor Robert Slonim and Dr Franzi Tausch – ran a field trial with a large global life insurer to see if customer disclosure could be improved.

Their experiment showed that by reminding customers about their own values, they could improve disclosure of smoking by more than 40% in new life insurance applications.

The research has won them the American Academy of Actuaries’ outstanding public policy research prize.

In associated work, Dr Samuell and Professor Christodoulou found problems with customer honesty in Australia and North America. Their North American study showed that if financial advisers were removed from the disclosure process, premiums for some products could be reduced by 20%.

The award includes a $US7500 ($11,211) prize, and the team’s work will be presented at the academy’s annual meeting in October in Washington.