Insurance market development and economic growth indicators: the study of relationship in the world

Abstract

The relevance of the paper is predetermined by the fact that insurance acts as an institute of financial and social protection, and insurance companies (especially for long-term life insurance) are the most important and socially responsible investors, which account for about 8-12% of total investments in developed countries in the economy, which, in turn, serves as a significant factor in economic growth. The purpose of our paper is to prove the relationship between the level of development and dynamics of insurance markets on the one hand, and the level and dynamics of economic growth rates in a number of countries, on the other. To achieve the goal, we set and solved the research objectives: 1) to determine the degree of elaboration of the problem of the relationship between economic growth and the development of the insurance market in a number of countries and regions of the world economy; 2) to construct a comprehensive classification of similar and different characteristics in certain countries of the worlds’ economy (European, Asian, extended countries with a federal structure, post-socialist countries); 3) to highlight some indicators of the level of economic development and growth of classified countries (central bank interest rate, economic growth rate, investment growth rate, etc.) associated with some parameters of insurance market development, primarily with the volume and growth rate of insurance premiums, including the growth rate of life insurance premiums; 4) to classify the insurance regulation models of the grouped countries based on the analysis of the relationship between the selected economic and insurance indicators; 5) to assess the degree of relationship between the development of a relatively young and unbalanced insurance market and indicators of economic growth in Russia. The latter occupies a special place in the classification of the countries under consideration by characteristics of insurance development, by spatial, geopolitical parameters, by indicators of economic development and economic dynamics. The research results and conclusion are the following: 1) there is a direct relationship between the indicators of economic growth and indicators of the development of the insurance market in national economies and regional integration complexes; 2) different types of grouped countries have a different degree of dependence between indicators of economic growth and the insurance market indicators’ development, which is determined, not least of all, by historical, economic, spatial, geographical and geopolitical characteristics; 3) the close relationship between the indicators of economic development and growth of countries under consideration and their insurance markets is ambiguous, due to the fact that the active growth of insurance is noted in countries with a high density and a significant proportion of the young population; 4) the reasons for similarities and differences in the relationship under study are diverse and determined by differences in functioning of socio-economic systems (geographical, legislative, political, social, etc.), as well as by the adopted model of insurance regulation; 5) the growth of the insurance market corresponds to the general economic growth, subject to the intensification of investment activity; 6) life insurance shows a closer relationship with macroeconomic indicators compared to other segments of the insurance market; 7) the importance of studying the proposed problem for Russia in the future is due to its important integrating function for the national insurance markets of European as well as Asian countries.