IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bbz/fcpbbr/v10y2013i3p130-155.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Study on life microinsurance in Brazil

Author

Listed:
  • Karina Reis Silva

    (Tokio Marine Seguradora)

  • Luís Eduardo Afonso

    (University of São Paulo)

Abstract

This study examines the feasibility of life microinsurance in Brazil. Microinsurance is aimed at people with per capita income of up to two minimum wages (MW), according to the definition made by theBrazilian government’s agency for superintending private insurance (SUSEP). The main source of data was the Brazilian National Household Survey (PNAD) from year 2008. The target population consists of 41 million family heads. For microinsurance coverages for death and funeral expenses, monthly premiums would range from US$0.36 to US$4.13 for those with per capita income of less than 0.25 MW. For the income range between 1 and 2 MW per capita, premiums vary between US$1.32 and US$15.21. The potential yearly market is approximately US$1.8 billion, with a potential profit of approximately US$274 million. These results provide significative evidence that life microinsurance can offer protection for low income people and also can be feasible in Brazil.

Suggested Citation

  • Karina Reis Silva & Luís Eduardo Afonso, 2013. "A Study on life microinsurance in Brazil," Brazilian Business Review, Fucape Business School, vol. 10(3), pages 130-155, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bbz:fcpbbr:v:10:y:2013:i:3:p:130-155
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://bbronline.com.br/index.php/bbr/article/download/207/316
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Siegel, Paul B. & Alwang, Jeffrey & Canagarajah, Sudharshan, 2001. "Viewing microinsurance as a social risk management instrument," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 23305, The World Bank.
    2. Hongbin Cai & Yuyu Chen & Hanming Fang & Li-An Zhou, 2009. "Microinsurance, Trust and Economic Development: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Field Experiment," NBER Working Papers 15396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. N/A, 2007. "Information for Authors," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 27(4), pages 508-509, July.
    4. 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.
    5. Robert M. Townsend, 1995. "Consumption Insurance: An Evaluation of Risk-Bearing Systems in Low-Income Economies," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 83-102, Summer.
    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. Bendig, Mirko & Arun, Thankom Gopinath, 2011. "Enrolment in Micro Life and Health Insurance: Evidences from Sri Lanka," IZA Discussion Papers 5427, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Mirko Bendig & Thankom Arun, 2011. "Microfinancial Services And Risk Management: Evidences From Sri Lanka," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 97-126, December.
    3. Awel Y. & Azomahou T.T., 2015. "Risk preference or financial literacy? Behavioural experiment on index insurance demand," MERIT Working Papers 2015-005, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    4. Arun, Thankom & Bendig, Mirko & Arun, Shoba, 2012. "Bequest Motives and Determinants of Micro Life Insurance in Sri Lanka," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 1700-1711.
    5. 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.
    6. Arun, Thankom Gopinath & Bendig, Mirko, 2010. "Risk Management among the Poor: The Case of Microfinancial Services," IZA Discussion Papers 5174, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. 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.
    8. BONAN Jacopo & DAGNELIE Olivier & LEMAY-BOUCHER Philippe & TENIKUE Michel, 2012. "Is it all about Money? A Randomized Evaluations of the Impact of Insurance Literacy and Marketing Treatments on the Demand for Health Microinsurance in Senegal," LISER Working Paper Series 2012-03, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    9. Giesbert, Lena & Steiner, Susan, 2011. "Perceptions of (Micro)Insurance in Southern Ghana: The Role of Information and Peer Effects," GIGA Working Papers 183, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    10. Antoine Leblois & Philippe Quirion, 2013. "Agricultural insurances based on meteorological indices: realizations, methods and research challenges," Post-Print hal-00656778, HAL.
    11. Ibanez, Marcela & Dietrich, Stephan, 2015. "Impact of Weather Insurance on Small Scale Farmers: A Natural Experiment," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112887, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    12. Petraud, Jean & Boucher, Stephen & Carter, Michael, 2015. "Competing theories of risk preferences and the demand for crop insurance: Experimental evidence from Peru," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211383, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    13. Fahad, Shah & Wang, Jing & Hu, Guangyin & Wang, Hui & Yang, Xiaoying & Shah, Ashfaq Ahmad & Huong, Nguyen Thi Lan & Bilal, Arshad, 2018. "Empirical analysis of factors influencing farmers crop insurance decisions in Pakistan: Evidence from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 459-467.
    14. Thomas Holzheu & Ginger Turner, 2018. "The Natural Catastrophe Protection Gap: Measurement, Root Causes and Ways of Addressing Underinsurance for Extreme Events†," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 43(1), pages 37-71, January.
    15. Lena Giesbert & Susan Steiner, 2015. "Client Perceptions of the Value of Microinsurance: Evidence from Southern Ghana," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 15-35, January.
    16. Sebastain N. Awondo & Octavio A. Ramirez & Gregory J. Colson & Esendugue G. Fonsah & Genti Kostandini, 2017. "Self†protection from weather risk using improved maize varieties or off†farm income and the propensity for insurance," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(1), pages 61-76, January.
    17. Martin Eling & Shailee Pradhan & Joan T Schmit, 2014. "The Determinants of Microinsurance Demand," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 39(2), pages 224-263, April.
    18. Chen, Huang, 2015. "Expectations, Index Qualities and Basis Risks in Explaining Farmers' Pessimism in Purchasing Weather Index Insurance," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211461, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Ruth Hill & Angelino Viceisza, 2012. "A field experiment on the impact of weather shocks and insurance on risky investment," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 15(2), pages 341-371, June.
    20. Leblois, A. & Le Cotty, T. & Maître d'Hôtel, E., 2020. "How Might Climate Change Influence farmers' Demand for Index-Based Insurance?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).

    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:bbz:fcpbbr:v:10:y:2013:i:3:p:130-155. 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: Sarah Lasso (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fucapbr.html .

    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.