Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/176686 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
GLO Discussion Paper No. 194
Publisher: 
Global Labor Organization (GLO), Maastricht
Abstract: 
We present findings from a pilot study exploring whether and how existing ties between urban migrants and rural farmers may be used to provide the latter improved access to formal insurance. Urban migrants in Ouagadougou (the capital of Burkina Faso) originating from nearby villages were offered, at the prevailing market price, a rainfall index insurance product that can potentially protect their rural relatives from adverse weather shocks. The product had an uptake of 22% during the two-week subscription window. Uptake rates were higher by 17-22 percentage points among urban migrants who were randomly offered an insurance policy that would make pay-outs directly to the intended beneficiary rather than the subscriber. We argue that rainfall index insurance can complement informal risk-sharing networks by mitigating problems of informational asymmetry and self-control issues.
Subjects: 
Microinsurance markets
Indexed insurance
Rainfall
Migration
Informal insurance networks
JEL: 
O15
O16
G21
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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