Actuarial Science Seminar: Who Trusts Insurance? Empirical Evidence from Seven Industrialised Countries

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.
Joint work with Christophe Courbage, Geneva School of Business Administration, University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO), Geneva and The Geneva Association, Zurich, Switzerland