Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/54938 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
GIGA Working Papers No. 183
Publisher: 
German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Hamburg
Abstract: 
This article investigates the understandings and perceptions of (micro)insurance among lowincome people in southern Ghana, using evidence from four focus group discussions. It analyzes how the focus group participants think about various types of insurance - among them a micro life insurance product - and how their negative and/or positive evaluations have come about. The evidence indicates that (micro)insurance is mostly positively perceived by the participants of the focus group discussions. However, it is also found that many people's image of insurance is based on incomplete (and sometimes erroneous) information, or even on intuition. In addition, the experiences or opinions of peers turn out to be critical in shaping an individual's perception of insurance. These two factors potentially have a contagious effect, which can lead to unreasonably positive or overly negative ideas about (micro )insurance. Such ideas, in turn, can become detrimental to the further distribution of microinsurance.
Subjects: 
microinsurance
risk management
perception
Ghana
focus groups
JEL: 
G22
O16
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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