IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/wpaper/halshs-01178838.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On the determinants of life insurance development in Sub-Saharan Africa: the role of the institutions quality in the effect of economic development

Author

Listed:
  • Samuel Guérineau

    (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - UdA - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Relwende Sawadogo

    (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - UdA - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the determinants of life insurance development on a panel of 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1996-2011. It also highlights the role of the institutions quality on the effect of economic development on the life insurance. Controlling for the presence of a possible endogeneity bias using the instrumental variable technique, we find evidence that increased of per capita income leads to an increase in life insurance premiums. We show that the life insurance is a luxury good in SSA. The demographic variables such as life expectancy and the young dependency ratio influence negatively the life insurance development while the old dependency ratio has a positive effect. We also find that the protection of property rights and the government stability are positively associated to life insurance. The results are robust to the introduction of more variables. Furthermore, the marginal impact of the income per capita on the life insurance varies according to the quality of the legal and political environment. Finally, the marginal effect of the economic development on life insurance is less for french legal system countries compared to non-french legal system countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Samuel Guérineau & Relwende Sawadogo, 2015. "On the determinants of life insurance development in Sub-Saharan Africa: the role of the institutions quality in the effect of economic development," Working Papers halshs-01178838, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01178838
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01178838
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01178838/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marco Arena, 2008. "Does Insurance Market Activity Promote Economic Growth? A Cross‐Country Study for Industrialized and Developing Countries," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 75(4), pages 921-946, December.
    2. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    3. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson & Pierre Yared, 2008. "Income and Democracy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(3), pages 808-842, June.
    4. Stephen Knack & Philip Keefer, 1995. "Institutions And Economic Performance: Cross‐Country Tests Using Alternative Institutional Measures," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(3), pages 207-227, November.
    5. Pei‐Fen Chen & Chien‐Chiang Lee & Chi‐Feng Lee, 2012. "How does the development of the life insurance market affect economic growth? Some international evidence," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(7), pages 865-893, October.
    6. Keefer, Philip & Knack, Stephen, 2002. "Polarization, Politics and Property Rights: Links between Inequality and Growth," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 111(1-2), pages 127-154, March.
    7. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    8. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2007. "Enhanced routines for instrumental variables/GMM estimation and testing," CERT Discussion Papers 0706, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University.
    9. Menahem E. Yaari, 1965. "Uncertain Lifetime, Life Insurance, and the Theory of the Consumer," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 32(2), pages 137-150.
    10. Knack, Stephen & Keefer, Philip, 1995. "Institutions and Economic Performance: Cross-Country Tests Using Alternative Institutional Indicators," MPRA Paper 23118, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Beenstock, Michael & Dickinson, Gerry & Khajuria, Sajay, 1986. "The determination of life premiums: An international cross-section analysis 1970-1981," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 261-270, October.
    12. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2007. "Enhanced routines for instrumental variables/generalized method of moments estimation and testing," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(4), pages 465-506, December.
    13. Rudolf Enz, 2000. "The S-Curve Relation Between Per-Capita Income and Insurance Penetration," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 25(3), pages 396-406, July.
    14. Feyen, Erik & Lester, Rodney & Rocha, Roberto, 2011. "What drives the development of the insurance sector ? an empirical analysis based on a panel of developed and developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5572, The World Bank.
    15. Thorsten Beck & Ian Webb, 2003. "Economic, Demographic, and Institutional Determinants of Life Insurance Consumption across Countries," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 17(1), pages 51-88, June.
    16. Chi-Hung Chang & Chien-Chiang Lee, 2012. "Non-Linearity Between Life Insurance and Economic Development: A Revisited Approach," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 37(2), pages 223-257, September.
    17. World Bank, 2014. "World Development Indicators 2014," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 18237.
    18. Markus Bruckner, 2011. "Economic Growth, Size of the Agricultural Sector, and Urbanization," School of Economics and Public Policy Working Papers 2011-16, University of Adelaide, School of Economics and Public Policy.
    19. Lewis, Frank D, 1989. "Dependents and the Demand for Life Insurance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(3), pages 452-467, June.
    20. Neil Esho & Anatoly Kirievsky & Damian Ward & Ralf Zurbruegg, 2004. "Law and the Determinants of Property‐Casualty Insurance," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 71(2), pages 265-283, June.
    21. Hakansson, Nils H, 1969. "Optimal Investment and Consumption Strategies under Risk, an Uncertain Lifetime, and Insurance," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 10(3), pages 443-466, October.
    22. Fortune, Peter, 1973. "A Theory of Optimal Life Insurance: Development and Tests," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 28(3), pages 587-600, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simplice Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2020. "Financial access, governance and insurance sector development in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 47(4), pages 849-875, February.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2020. "Insurance Policy Thresholds for Economic Growth in Africa," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(3), pages 672-689, July.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Enhancing ICT for insurance in Africa," Review of Development Finance Journal, Chartered Institute of Development Finance, vol. 9(2), pages 16-27.
    4. Rajat Deb & Deep Deb & Kiran Sankar Chakraborty, 2022. "Spousal roles in life insurance demands," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 49(1), pages 3-11, March.
    5. Simplice A. Asongu, 2020. "Technology, Education, Life and Non-life Insurance in Africa," International Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(11), pages 915-925, August.
    6. Rajat Deb & Kanchan Kumar Nath & Mukesh Nepal & Sourav Chakraborty & Kiran Sankar Chakraborty, 2021. "Do People Choose Life Insurance for Protection or for Saving?," Metamorphosis: A Journal of Management Research, , vol. 20(1), pages 35-44, June.
    7. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2021. "Information Asymmetry and Insurance in Africa," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 394-410, July.
    8. Simplice Asongu & Joseph Nnanna & Paul Acha-Anyi, 2019. "Information technology, governance and insurance in Sub-Saharan Africa," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 16(8), pages 1253-1273, September.
    9. Bruno Emmanuel Ongo Nkoa & Cédric Meytang & Thierry Mamadou Asngar & Guivis Zeufack Nkemgha, 2024. "What Drives Life Insurance Development in Sub-Saharan Africa? The Role of Information and Communication Technology," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 6878-6907, June.
    10. Yilmaz Bayar & Marius Dan Gavriletea & Dan Constantin Danuletiu & Adina Elena Danuletiu & Emre Sakar, 2022. "Pension Funds, Insurance Companies and Stock Market Development: Evidence from Emerging Markets," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(13), pages 1-13, July.
    11. MAIMOUNA DIAKITE & Jean-François BRUN, 2016. "Tax Potential and Tax Effort: An Empirical Estimation for Non-Resource Tax Revenue and VAT’s Revenue," EcoMod2016 9537, EcoMod.
    12. Simona Laura Dragoş & Codruţa Mare & Cristian Mihai Dragoş, 2019. "Institutional drivers of life insurance consumption: a dynamic panel approach for European countries," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 44(1), pages 36-66, January.
    13. Noureddine BERBER, Djilali BELAIDOUNI & Fatma Zohra BOUGHAR, 2024. "Determinants of Individuals’ Demand for Service Products. Sample of Algerian Insurance Companies Clients," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(1), pages 1588-1604, January.
    14. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2020. "Insurance and Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policy Thresholds," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 20/005, African Governance and Development Institute..
    15. Odunayo Olarewaju & Thabiso Msomi, 2021. "Determinants of Insurance Penetration in West African Countries: A Panel Auto Regressive Distributed Lag Approach," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-15, July.
    16. Mmakgabo Pinkie Segodi & Athenia Bongani Sibindi, 2022. "Determinants of Life Insurance Demand: Empirical Evidence from BRICS Countries," Risks, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-14, April.

    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. J. François Outreville, 2011. "The relationship between insurance growth and economic development - 80 empirical papers for a review of the literature," ICER Working Papers 12-2011, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    2. Stephanie Hussels & Damian Ward & Ralf Zurbruegg, 2005. "Stimulating the Demand for Insurance," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 8(2), pages 257-278, September.
    3. J. François Outreville, 2013. "The Relationship Between Insurance and Economic Development: 85 Empirical Papers for a Review of the Literature," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 16(1), pages 71-122, March.
    4. Relwende Sawadogo, Samuel Guerineau and Idrissa M. Ouedraogo, 2018. "Life Insurance Development and Economic Growth: Evidence from Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 43(2), pages 1-28, June.
    5. Alhassan, Abdul Latif & Biekpe, Nicholas, 2016. "Determinants of life insurance consumption in Africa," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 17-27.
    6. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Chiu, Yi-Bin & Chang, Chi-Hung, 2013. "Insurance demand and country risks: A nonlinear panel data analysis," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 68-85.
    7. Simona Laura Dragoş & Codruţa Mare & Cristian Mihai Dragoş, 2019. "Institutional drivers of life insurance consumption: a dynamic panel approach for European countries," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 44(1), pages 36-66, January.
    8. Subir Sen & S Madheswaran, 2013. "Regional determinants of life insurance consumption: evidence from selected Asian economies," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 27(2), pages 86-103, November.
    9. Subir Sen, 2008. "An Analysis Of Life Insurance Demand Determinants For Selected Asian Economies And India," Working Papers 2008-036, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    10. Rudra P. Pradhan & Saurav Dash & Rana Pratap Maradana & Manju Jayakumar & Kunal Gaurav, 2017. "Insurance market density and economic growth in Eurozone countries: the granger causality approach," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 3(1), pages 1-24, December.
    11. Sisira Kumara NARADDA GAMAGE, & Li LIN, & Ihtisham ul HAQ, 2016. "Economic & Demographic Characterictics, Social Capital And Demand For Life Insurance: Evidence From Central Region Of Sri Lanka," EcoForum, "Stefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Public Administration - Economy, Business Administration and Tourism Department., vol. 5(2), pages 1-9, July.
    12. Pradhan, Rudra P. & Arvin, Mak B. & Norman, Neville R., 2015. "Insurance development and the finance-growth nexus: Evidence from 34 OECD countries," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 1-22.
    13. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Lee, Chi-Chuan & Chiu, Yi-Bin, 2013. "The link between life insurance activities and economic growth: Some new evidence," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 405-427.
    14. Relwendé Sawadogo, 2021. "The relationship between insurance and banking sectors in Sub-Saharan African: Does globalization matter?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 101-119, February.
    15. Mamadou Bah & Nelson Abila, 2024. "Institutional determinants of insurance penetration in Africa," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 49(1), pages 138-179, January.
    16. J. François Outreville, 2015. "The Relationship Between Relative Risk Aversion And The Level Of Education: A Survey And Implications For The Demand For Life Insurance," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 97-111, February.
    17. Scharner, Philipp & Sonnenberger, David & Weiß, Gregor, 2023. "Revisiting the insurance–growth nexus," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 525-539.
    18. Elena Nebolsina, 2020. "The Impact of Demographic Burden on Insurance Density," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, December.
    19. Rudra P. Pradhan, Mak B. Arvin, John H. Hall and Neville R. Norman, 2017. "Insurance Market Development and Macroeconomic Interactions in Twenty-Six Countries," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 42(4), pages 23-57, December.
    20. Rudra P. Pradhan & Mak B. Arvin & Sahar Bahmani & Sara E. Bennett & John H. Hall, 2017. "Insurance–growth nexus and macroeconomic determinants: evidence from middle-income countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1337-1366, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Life insurance; economic development; Institutional Quality; instrumental variable;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C26 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hal:wpaper:halshs-01178838. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.