The Impact of Political, Legal and Economic Institutions on Family Takaful/ Life Insurance Consumption in OIC Countries

Abstract

This study aims at testing the impact of political, legal and economic institutions on life insurance/ family takaful consumption in OIC countries. Using a panel data covering 33 OIC countries for the years from 1990 till 2016, fixed effects and random effects models have been utilised. The empirical results suggest that for political institutions, more government effectiveness promotes consumption of life insurance in OIC countries. Additionally, the more unstable the country is, the more life insurance/family takaful is purchased perhaps as an attempt of individuals to mitigate the increased level of risks. Similarly, economic institutions, measured by both investment freedom and financial freedom, have a positive impact on life insurance consumption in OIC countries. However, results show that trade freedom index has a negative impact. Further, legal institutions do not seem to have any significant impact on life insurance consumption in OIC countries.