IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jageco/v75y2024i2p794-815.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Digital opportunities for the distribution of index‐based microinsurance: Evidence from a discrete choice experiment in Mali

Author

Listed:
  • Ella Kirchner
  • Oliver Musshoff

Abstract

Index‐based microinsurance is a promising risk management tool for smallholder farmers. Recently, several mobile‐delivered insurance schemes have entered the market. Depending on the degree of digitisation of the product, farmers can learn about the insurance, register, pay premiums and receive payouts via a mobile phone. As cell phone usage and network coverage constantly increase, digitally enabled insurance distribution may overcome previous barriers for insurance adoption. Still, farmers' preferences for these products remain largely unknown. We address this knowledge gap by means of a discrete choice experiment applied to 499 maize farmers in Mali. The experiment presents an easy‐to‐understand multi‐peril crop insurance linked to a greenness index. It focuses on attributes related to the distribution channel and product design. Using mixed logit models, we find that the insurance attributes enabled by mobile‐delivery are attractive to farmers. Product bundles that include mobile‐delivered weather information and agricultural advice in addition to the insurance policy or credit access increase the likelihood of farmers taking out insurance. Similarly, recommendations from fellow farmers increase interest in the insurance product. The results are highly relevant for future product improvements that are needed to increase adoption rates and ultimately realise the loss‐hedging potential of microinsurance.

Suggested Citation

  • Ella Kirchner & Oliver Musshoff, 2024. "Digital opportunities for the distribution of index‐based microinsurance: Evidence from a discrete choice experiment in Mali," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(2), pages 794-815, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jageco:v:75:y:2024:i:2:p:794-815
    DOI: 10.1111/1477-9552.12584
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.12584
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1477-9552.12584?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lori Beaman & Ariel BenYishay & Jeremy Magruder & Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, 2021. "Can Network Theory-Based Targeting Increase Technology Adoption?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(6), pages 1918-1943, June.
    2. Shawn Cole & Xavier Giné & James Vickery, 2017. "How Does Risk Management Influence Production Decisions? Evidence from a Field Experiment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(6), pages 1935-1970.
    3. Jing Cai & Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2020. "Subsidy Policies and Insurance Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(8), pages 2422-2453, August.
    4. Scarpa, Riccardo & Rose, John M., 2008. "Design efficiency for non-market valuation with choice modelling: how to measure it, what to report and why," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 52(3), pages 1-30.
    5. Gin, Xavier & Yang, Dean, 2009. "Insurance, credit, and technology adoption: Field experimental evidencefrom Malawi," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 1-11, May.
    6. Elinor Benami & Michael R. Carter, 2021. "Can digital technologies reshape rural microfinance? Implications for savings, credit, & insurance," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 1196-1220, December.
    7. Wuyang Hu & Shan Sun & Jerrod Penn & Ping Qing, 2022. "Dummy and effects coding variables in discrete choice analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(5), pages 1770-1788, October.
    8. Cai, Jing & Song, Changcheng, 2017. "Do disaster experience and knowledge affect insurance take-up decisions?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 83-94.
    9. Shawn Cole & Xavier Gine & Jeremy Tobacman & Petia Topalova & Robert Townsend & James Vickery, 2013. "Barriers to Household Risk Management: Evidence from India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 104-135, January.
    10. Willemijn Vroege & Janic Bucheli & Tobias Dalhaus & Martin Hirschi & Robert Finger, 2021. "Insuring crops from space: the potential of satellite-retrieved soil moisture to reduce farmers’ drought risk exposure," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 48(2), pages 266-314.
    11. Train,Kenneth E., 2009. "Discrete Choice Methods with Simulation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521766555.
    12. Barry J. Barnett & Olivier Mahul, 2007. "Weather Index Insurance for Agriculture and Rural Areas in Lower-Income Countries," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1241-1247.
    13. Kati Kraehnert & Veronika Bertram-Huemmer, 2018. "Weather Index Insurance Can Help Households Recover from Extreme Weather Events," DIW Weekly Report, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 8(40), pages 385-391.
    14. Farrin, Katie & Miranda, Mario J., 2015. "A heterogeneous agent model of credit-linked index insurance and farm technology adoption," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 199-211.
    15. Veronika Bertram-Huemmer & Kati Kraehnert, 2018. "Does Index Insurance Help Households Recover from Disaster? Evidence from IBLI Mongolia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(1), pages 145-171.
    16. Carter, Michael R. & Cheng, Lan & Sarris, Alexandros, 2016. "Where and how index insurance can boost the adoption of improved agricultural technologies," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 59-71.
    17. Beaman, Lori & Dillon, Andrew, 2018. "Diffusion of agricultural information within social networks: Evidence on gender inequalities from Mali," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 147-161.
    18. Arne Risa Hole, 2007. "Fitting mixed logit models by using maximum simulated likelihood," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(3), pages 388-401, September.
    19. Hausman, Jerry & McFadden, Daniel, 1984. "Specification Tests for the Multinomial Logit Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(5), pages 1219-1240, September.
    20. Shawn Cole & Daniel Stein & Jeremy Tobacman, 2014. "Dynamics of Demand for Index Insurance: Evidence from a Long-Run Field Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 284-290, May.
    21. Platteau, Jean-Philippe & De Bock, Ombeline & Gelade, Wouter, 2017. "The Demand for Microinsurance: A Literature Review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 139-156.
    22. Yegbemey, Rosaine N. & Bensch, Gunther & Vance, Colin, 2023. "Weather information and agricultural outcomes: Evidence from a pilot field experiment in Benin," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    23. Galarza, Francisco B. & Carter, Michael R., 2010. "Risk Preferences and Demand for Insurance in Peru: A Field Experiment," 2010 Annual Meeting, July 25-27, 2010, Denver, Colorado 61871, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    24. Abhijit Banerjee & Arun G Chandrasekhar & Esther Duflo & Matthew O Jackson, 2019. "Using Gossips to Spread Information: Theory and Evidence from Two Randomized Controlled Trials," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(6), pages 2453-2490.
    25. Sarah A Janzen & Michael R Carter, 2019. "After the Drought: The Impact of Microinsurance on Consumption Smoothing and Asset Protection," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 101(3), pages 651-671.
    26. Ranjan Kumar Ghosh & Shweta Gupta & Vartika Singh & Patrick S. Ward, 2021. "Demand for Crop Insurance in Developing Countries: New Evidence from India," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(1), pages 293-320, February.
    27. Ayako Matsuda & Takashi Kurosaki, 2019. "Demand for temperature and rainfall index insurance in India," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 50(3), pages 353-366, May.
    28. Jing Cai & Alain De Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2015. "Social Networks and the Decision to Insure," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 81-108, April.
    29. Richard A. Gallenstein & Khushbu Mishra & Abdoul G. Sam & Mario J. Miranda, 2019. "Willingness to Pay for Insured Loans in Northern Ghana," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 640-662, September.
    30. Ruth Vargas Hill & Miguel Robles & Francisco Ceballos, 2016. "Demand for a Simple Weather Insurance Product in India: Theory and Evidence," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1250-1270.
    31. Khushbu Mishra & Richard A. Gallenstein & Mario J. Miranda & Abdoul G. Sam & Patricia Toledo & Francis Mulangu, 2021. "Insured Loans and Credit Access: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment in Northern Ghana," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(3), pages 923-943, May.
    32. Hill, Ruth Vargas & Kumar, Neha & Magnan, Nicholas & Makhija, Simrin & de Nicola, Francesca & Spielman, David J. & Ward, Patrick S., 2019. "Ex ante and ex post effects of hybrid index insurance in Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1-17.
    33. Xavier Giné & Robert Townsend & James Vickery, 2008. "Patterns of Rainfall Insurance Participation in Rural India," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 22(3), pages 539-566, October.
    34. Jeff Bennett & Ekin Birol (ed.), 2010. "Choice Experiments in Developing Countries," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13208.
    35. Berber Kramer & Peter Hazell & Harold Alderman & Francisco Ceballos & Neha Kumar & Anne G. Timu, 2022. "Is Agricultural Insurance Fulfilling Its Promise for the Developing World? A Review of Recent Evidence," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 291-311, October.
    36. Ölkers, Tim & Liu, Shuang & Mußhoff, Oliver, 2023. "A typology of Malian farmers and their credit repayment performance - An unsupervised machine learning approach," 97th Annual Conference, March 27-29, 2023, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 334547, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.
    37. Stein, Daniel, 2014. "Dynamics of demand for rainfall index insurance : evidence from a commercial product in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7035, The World Bank.
    38. Eline Broek-Altenburg & Adam Atherly, 2020. "Using discrete choice experiments to measure preferences for hard to observe choice attributes to inform health policy decisions," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-8, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mogge, Lukas, 2023. "A District-Level Analysis of the Effect of Risk Exposure on the Demand for Index Insurance in Mongolia," Ruhr Economic Papers 1018, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    2. Takahashi, Kazushi & Noritomo, Yuma & Ikegami, Munenobu & Jensen, Nathaniel D., 2020. "Understanding pastoralists’ dynamic insurance uptake decisions: Evidence from four-year panel data in Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    3. Shukri Ahmed & Craig McIntosh & Alexandros Sarris, 2020. "The Impact of Commercial Rainfall Index Insurance: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(4), pages 1154-1176, August.
    4. Hill, Ruth Vargas & Kumar, Neha & Magnan, Nicholas & Makhija, Simrin & de Nicola, Francesca & Spielman, David J. & Ward, Patrick S., 2019. "Ex ante and ex post effects of hybrid index insurance in Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1-17.
    5. Ayako Matsuda & Takashi Kurosaki, 2017. "Temperature and Rainfall Index Insurance in India," OSIPP Discussion Paper 17E002, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University.
    6. Dougherty, John P. & Flatnes, Jon Einar & Gallenstein, Richard A. & Miranda, Mario J. & Sam, Abdoul G., 2020. "Climate change and index insurance demand: Evidence from a framed field experiment in Tanzania," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 155-184.
    7. Wong, Ho Lun & Wei, Xiangdong & Kahsay, Haftom Bayray & Gebreegziabher, Zenebe & Gardebroek, Cornelis & Osgood, Daniel E. & Diro, Rahel, 2020. "Effects of input vouchers and rainfall insurance on agricultural production and household welfare: Experimental evidence from northern Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    8. Stoeffler, Quentin & Opuz, Gülce, 2022. "Price, information and product quality: Explaining index insurance demand in Burkina Faso," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    9. Ward, Patrick S. & Kumar, Neha & De Nicola, Francesca & Hill, Ruth & Makhija, Simrin & Spielman, David J. & Magnan, Nicholas, 2017. "Insuring Against Drought: Evidence on Agricultural Intensification and Demand for Index Insurance from a Randomized Evaluation in Rural Bangladesh," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258090, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Hill, Ruth Vargas & Kumar, Neha & Magnan, Nicholas & Makhija, Simrin & de Nicola, Francesca & Spielman, David J. & Ward, Patrick S., 2017. "Insuring against droughts: Evidence on agricultural intensification and index insurance demand from a randomized evaluation in rural Bangladesh," IFPRI discussion papers 1630, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. Platteau, Jean-Philippe & De Bock, Ombeline & Gelade, Wouter, 2017. "The Demand for Microinsurance: A Literature Review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 139-156.
    12. Jing Cai & Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2020. "Subsidy Policies and Insurance Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(8), pages 2422-2453, August.
    13. Laura Moritz & Lena Kuhn & Ihtiyor Bobojonov, 2023. "The role of peer imitation in agricultural index insurance adoption: Findings from lab‐in‐the‐field experiments in Kyrgyzstan," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 1649-1672, August.
    14. Michael King & Anuj Pratab Singh, 2018. "Understanding farmers' valuation of agricultural insurance: Evidence from Vietnam," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-93, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Nathaniel Jensen & Christopher Barrett, 2017. "Agricultural Index Insurance for Development," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 39(2), pages 199-219.
    16. Anuj Singh & Michael King, 2018. "Understanding farmers’ valuation of agricultural insurance: Evidence from Vietnam," WIDER Working Paper Series 93, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Gunnsteinsson, Snaebjorn, 2020. "Experimental identification of asymmetric information: Evidence on crop insurance in the Philippines," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    18. Quentin Stoeffler & Michael Carter & Catherine Guirkinger & Wouter Gelade, 2022. "The Spillover Impact of Index Insurance on Agricultural Investment by Cotton Farmers in Burkina Faso," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 36(1), pages 114-140.
    19. Veronika Bertram-Huemmer & Kati Kraehnert, 2018. "Does Index Insurance Help Households Recover from Disaster? Evidence from IBLI Mongolia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(1), pages 145-171.
    20. Lichtenberg, Erik & Iglesias, Eva, 2022. "Index insurance and basis risk: A reconsideration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jageco:v:75:y:2024:i:2:p:794-815. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-857X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.