Do Index Insurance Programs Live Up to Their Promises? Aggregating Evidence from Multiple Experiments

dc.creatorCastaing, Pauline
dc.creatorGazeaud, Jules
dc.date2022-09-06T19:31:21Z
dc.date2022-09-06T19:31:21Z
dc.date2022-09
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-01T00:36:46Z
dc.descriptionDespite limited uptake, index insurance is often seen as one of the most remarkable innovations of the past decades to help smallholder farmers manage risks. This paper uses a Bayesian hierarchical model to aggregate evidence from existing experiments and assess the external validity of their results. The findings show positive but highly heterogeneous responses to index insurance across experiments. Interventions expanding access to index insurance typically boost productive investments by 0.06–0.11 standard deviation on average. However, treatment effects display substantial heterogeneity and there is no evidence that this heterogeneity can be meaningfully explained by basic household characteristics. The existing evidence base thus offers limited insights to predict the impact of index insurance in new settings. The paper concludes that governments and development agencies should remain cautious before investing in the widespread expansion of index insurance.
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.formattext/plain
dc.identifierhttp://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099434009062278901/IDU08ec8b63d0486b0492b0a43908a198397ca4e
dc.identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/37964
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-10161
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/407330
dc.languageEnglish
dc.languageen
dc.publisherWorld Bank, Washington, DC
dc.relationPolicy Research Working Papers;10161
dc.rightsCC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rightshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo
dc.rightsWorld Bank
dc.subjectSMALL FARM INSURANCE
dc.subjectINDEX INSURANCE IN LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES
dc.subjectINSTITUTIONAL REFORM
dc.subjectINVESTMENT IN AGRICULTURE
dc.subjectAGRICULTURE GROWTH
dc.subjectEXTERNAL VALIDITY
dc.subjectAGRICULTURAL DECISIONS
dc.subjectINDEX INSURANCE
dc.subjectBAYESIAN HIERARCHICAL MODELING
dc.titleDo Index Insurance Programs Live Up to Their Promises? Aggregating Evidence from Multiple Experiments
dc.typeWorking Paper
dc.typeDocument de travail
dc.typeDocumento de trabajo

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