Enrolment in Micro Life and Health Insurance: Evidences from Sri Lanka
Bendig, Mirko; Thankom Arun, Institute for the Study of Labor, Discussion Paper No. 5427, January 2011
This paper presents evidence on the determinants of insurance participation using probit models on household survey data from Sri Lanka, conditional on household's MFI enrolment. The authors employ multivariate probit regressions to analyse factors affecting the participation in different types of insurance.
The authors find that the household's experience of a family related shock is positively associated with participation in micro health insurance schemes under study. There is strong evidence that microinsurance has not yet succeeded in proportionately reaching the most vulnerable households. Notably, education of the household head is a strong determinant of microinsurance participation.
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7th edition of Micro Insurance Voices available
This edition of the Micro Insurance Voices, published by the Micro Insurance Academy (MIA), contains numerous news items on the activities and projects of the organisation, including details on the MIA-produced first full-length Bollywood movie on microinsurance, a short briefing note on MIA's recent work in Tanzania, and news on MIA's work at grassroots level in South Asia.
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Constraints on agricultural microinsurance
Becerra; Norah, Rural 21: The International Journal for Rural Development, January 2011
In recent years, microfinance institutions have realised that "credit only" is not sufficient to meet the needs of the poor. While adding new financial services such as savings, remittances and insurances has been successful in urban centres, extending these services to rural areas is hampered by high risks and costs, particularly when introducing microinsurance for agriculture.
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Community-based microinsurance: Localised and responsive
Radermacher; Ralf, Rural 21: The International Journal for Rural Development, January 2011
Community based insurance schemes are widespread throughout the world and exist in different forms. They are an important tool to overcome gaps in the supply, caused by either lack of trust in conventional insurers, absence of any insurance coverage or inadequate processes or products.
When engaging in innovative partnerships with conventional insurers, win-win situations can be created: enhanced financial stability of community based insurers and access to new markets for conventional insurers. If the autonomy of the community-based insurers is respected, their advantages of higher trust and proximity as well as local ownership can be retained, and a more responsive insurance sector can develop to serve the poor.
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The effect of microinsurance on economic activities: Evidence from a randomised natural field experiment
Cai, Hongbin; Yuyu Cheny; Hanming Fang; Li-An Zhou, December 2010
Lack of access to formal insurance market may prevent farmers from pursuing risky production activities with potentially large returns. How does access to formal microinsurance affect production and economic development? This report examines results from a large randomised natural field experiment conducted in south-western China in the context of insurance for sows. The report found that providing access to formal insurance significantly increases farmers' tendency to raise sows. It also found some evidence that lack of trust on the government-sponsored insurance policies is an important impediment to farmers' willingness to purchase the formal insurance.
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Microinsurance: A large untapped market
Steiner, Susan; Lena Giesbert, German Institute for Economic Research, No. 33/2010, Volume 6, December 2010
In tandem with the growth of microloans and microsavings, insurance policies geared towards low-income households have also become increasingly widespread over the past decade in developing and emerging countries. Yet much work is to be done if this goal is to be attained. On the one hand, the availability of microinsurance is still extremely limited. On the other hand, potential and current microinsurance customers do not place much trust in insurance providers. They also lack knowledge about specific insurance products, as shown by an investigation of a microinsurance policy in Ghana. Yet another factor is that many commercial insurers still have not managed to adapt to the particularities of the microinsurance market.
This paper examines these issues within the scope of a research project seeking to identify factors that influence the acquisition of microinsurance, a quantitative household survey was administered to more than 1,000 households in three regions in Southern Ghana in February and March of 2009. This research project was financed by the foundation DZ Bank-Stiftung and carried out by the authors of this Weekly Report at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA).
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8th issue of Innovation Flash available
The latest issue of the ILO's Microinsurance Innovation Facility newsletter includes an article written by Bernd Balkhenhol, Director of the ILO's Social Finance programme, which presents the positive and negative effects of the microcredit crisis in India. The Newsletter also highlights the Facility's new grantees, presents in details the Knowledge management portal and shares useful resources (publications, articles and videos).
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