Natural Disasters and Individual Behaviour in Developing Countries: Risk, Trust and the Demand for Microinsurance

by Oliver Fiala

Overview

This study investigates the complex link between natural disasters, individual behaviour – in the form of an individual’s risk-taking propensity and level of trust – and the demand for microinsurance. Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of natural hazards and climate change as they affect their development processes and set back poverty reduction efforts. Using a unique data set for rural Cambodia based on a survey, experimental games and a discrete choice experiment, the study highlights the importance of perceptions, expectations and psychological factors in decision-making processes with substantial consequences for long-term economic perspectives and poverty alleviation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319852713
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	05/10/2018
Series:	Contributions to Economics
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2017
Pages:	195
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dr. Oliver Fiala is a development economist, specialising in the role of financial instruments against natural disasters in developing countries. After studying economics at TU Dresden, he worked for four years as a Research Assistant at the university’s Faculty of Business and Economics, where he completed his doctoral thesis in 2016.
He has worked on various private sector and academic research projects across the fields of development, environmental, behavioural, regional, health and microeconomics. He was an organiser of the ‘International Conference on Shocks and Development’ 2016 in Dresden, and has shaped and taught economics courses in Germany and Cambodia.

Table of Contents

Introduction.- Natural Disasters in Developing Countries.- Experience Natural Disasters: How this Influences Risk Aversion and Trust.- The Demand for Microinsurance Products Against Disaster Risk.- Going Forward: Building Resilience with Microinsurance.- Conclusion.