Who Trusts Insurance? Empirical Evidence from Seven Industrialised Countries

33 Pages Posted: 19 Jul 2019

See all articles by Christophe Courbage

Christophe Courbage

Haute Ecole de Gestion de Genève - University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO)

Christina Nicolas

University of Limoges - Laboratoire d'Analyse et de Prospectives Économiques (LAPE); Haute Ecole de Gestion de Geneve (HEG)

Date Written: May 25, 2019

Abstract

While the importance of trust in insurance is widely recognised, surprisingly, existing literature on the determinants of trust in insurance remains scarce. This paper investigates the determinants of trust in insurance in seven industrialised countries in Europe, North America and Asia using data from a recent insurance industry survey. We find that trust in insurance is higher among females, younger individuals, and less educated people. On the contrary, people who are more insurance literate have higher trust in insurance. Our findings also show that experiences with insurance are one of the most important determinants of trust in insurance, with the negative effect of a bad experience being more pronounced than the positive effect of a good experience. Finally, access to information related to insurance through the internet deters trust in insurance, while access to information through newspapers and magazines promotes it.

Keywords: Insurance; Trust; Insurance literacy

JEL Classification: D12, G22

Suggested Citation

Courbage, Christophe and Nicolas, Christina, Who Trusts Insurance? Empirical Evidence from Seven Industrialised Countries (May 25, 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3422723 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3422723

Christophe Courbage

Haute Ecole de Gestion de Genève - University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO) ( email )

Geneva
Switzerland

Christina Nicolas (Contact Author)

University of Limoges - Laboratoire d'Analyse et de Prospectives Économiques (LAPE) ( email )

5 rue Félix Eboué
BP 3127
Limoges Cedex 1, 87031
France

Haute Ecole de Gestion de Geneve (HEG) ( email )

Rue de la Tambourine 17
Carouge, 1227
Switzerland

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