The experience of the property and casualty (P & C) insurance industry provides insights into the nature of financial shocks and cycles. The evidence indicates that:
* Shocks do not contribute to the underwriting cycle because they are random and, hence, taken as not being truly representative of the future of "business as usual."
* Shocks do affect underwriting practices by initiating efforts to eliminate or mitigate a newly perceived risk from interfering with "business as ...