On 17 September, Dr Geoffroy Legentilhomme was awarded the 2021 Pierre du Bois Prize for the best doctoral thesis in International History defended at the Graduate Institute, Geneva. His thesis “Mutualisme, concurrence et science actuarielle: Contributions à l’historiographie du système suisse d’assurance-maladie (1865-1970)” explored the long-term development of the Swiss health insurance system from the mid-19th century to the 1970s. 

Departing from the State-centred and cultural approaches dominant in the historiography of social insurance, this dissertation adopts the analytical tools of business history to study the process through which the activity consisting in offering protection against the risks associated with illness evolved over time. Dr Geoffroy Legentilhomme begins with an analysis of the first mutualists in the 19th century, proceeding to examine the development of a new modality consisting of medical health insurance, to end with a study of the period between 1930s and 1970s, theatre of the emergence of a new actor: life-insurance companies. Through an historical journey, this dissertation shows how the early locally managed mutual aid organizations progressively broadened their scope and reach to cater to an ever-growing middle-class market, leading to the emergence of health-insurance as a product of mass consumption.  

Mr. Legentilhomme's dissertation received the support and guidance of its directors, Professor Carolyn Biltoft and Professor Marc Flandreau.