Microinsurance and household asset welfare in South Africa

This paper examines the effect of microinsurance usage on household asset welfare, measured as asset accumulation index using a sample of 2006 households with access to formal non-banking and informal financial services from the 2015 FinScope Survey. Using the treatment effect and instrumental variable estimation techniques to account for endogeneity and selection biases, the empirical results support the hypothesis that microinsurance provides financial protection through asset accumulation to improve welfare. The findings are robust for different types of microinsurance products and weighted and unweighted asset accumulation indices. The policy implications of the findings are discussed.