Les déterminants du développement de l'assurance-vie dans les pays d’Afrique Subsaharienne: le rôle de la qualité du système juridique et politique

This paper analyzes the determinants of the 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 quality of institutions on the impact 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. Also, 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 find also that the protection of property rights and the government stability are positively associated to life insurance. The results are robust to the introduction of add 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 benefit from increased income is less for country French legal system.