Insurance Development and Economic Growth

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of continent and initial GDP per capita level of a country on the relationship between insurance activities and economic growth. This study considers panel data consists of 123 countries from 1967 to 2014. Both static panel model and dynamic panel model are used to evaluate the effect of both continent and initial GDP per capita level of a country to the economic growth. The findings show significant causal relationship between insurance development and economic growth. However, the relationship is varied in different countries due to different initial income levels and locations. The effect of insurance development on economic growth of a country is indirect because it depends on the performance of the investment of insurers. Therefore, policymakers should consider their own country’s special characteristics when formulating a policy. Policymakers should clearly understand the nature of their insurance sector such as interconnectedness between financial sector and insurance sector, whether to promote insurance sector to grow their economy. By understanding the effect of continent and the initial GDP per capita level, policymakers could formulate and implement more effective policies on their country’s insurance sector to ensure the prosperity of the country’s economic growth.