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It was only later in the 18th century that life insurance was

put on a healthier footing. James Dodson, a 45-year-old English

mathematician, searched for a mathematical solution in order

to form a more equitable base upon which to calculate

premiums as a percentage of life expectancy. On this basis, the

Welshman Richard Price later developed a cost and accounting

model. In 1774 he calculated profitability in life insurance for

the Equitable Life based on current and expected mortality, so

that the current state of the operations could be assessed more

precisely. From then on, life insurance no longer relied on

speculation. The process of collecting different types of

institutional and personal information and using underwriting to

transform it into quantifiable costs became important.

Insurance also helped money, become the means of

communication within the economy and contributed to more

and more problems being expressed in terms of costs and time.

The Great Fire swept through London from 2 to 5

September in 1666. It destroyed over 70000 homes. It did not

take long for the first fire insurance company to be established

after the catastrophe. One Londoner, Nicholas Barbon, made a

fortune out of rebuilding the city and then turned to insuring

the houses. His rational approach and his experience as a banker

and mortgage provider made him realize that his insurance

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