ABSTRACT
This chapter includes five sections. Section one discusses the Knappschaften's medieval origins, Then it examines the argument that the societies were characterized by a fundamental design flaw' associated with their size. Section two presents quantitative data that are central to discussion of size as part of an overview of the Prussian KVs' development in general. Section three makes the case for small KVs and moral hazard in health insurance, Then it presents empirical evidence on the relationship between size and moral hazard. Section four makes the case for large KVs and actuarial risk. The German mining sector's long-term growth in terms of employment combined with the reduction of operating KVs due to mergers and closures led to a continuous increase of the average KV size. Section five concludes the 'design flaw' of Knappschaften was doubtlessly troublesome, especially for small-sized KVs, but its quantitative impact on the KVs' finances was overestimated by contemporary observers.
