Insurance Against Covariate Shocks : The Role of Index-Based Insurance in Social Protection in Low-Income Countries of Africa | Land Portal

Resource information

Date of publication: 
May 2012
Resource Language: 
ISBN / Resource ID: 
oai:openknowledge.worldbank.org:10986/6736
Copyright details: 
CC BY 3.0 IGO

Index insurance, such as weather
indexing, addresses other inherent problems in insurance by
using an indicator that is not affected by individual
behavior and may address monitoring costs and moral hazard.
A number of innovations using index insurance are being
tried currently in diverse settings ranging from India to
Mongolia to Malawi. Marketing costs may limit the provision
of such insurance to small farmers, but even in such cases
microfinance institutes may serve as market intermediaries.
Moreover, state and submational governments can use
insurance to achieve countercyclical funding programs. In
this vein, municipal governments in Mexico have used
insurance to finance disaster contingency while the World
Food Program has insured a portion of its emergency
assistance to Ethiopia. Humanitarian organizations and NGOs
may also seek insurance in this manner.

Authors and Publishers

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Alderman, Harold
Haque, Trina

Publisher(s): 

The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. We are not a bank in the ordinary sense but a unique partnership to reduce poverty and support development.

Data provider

The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. We are not a bank in the ordinary sense but a unique partnership to reduce poverty and support development.

Share this page