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Ensaios sobre microsseguro formal e comportamento de subpoupança : Essays on formal microinsurance and undersaving behaviour
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This dissertation (re)draws stakeholders’ attention to the voicelessness or minimal involvement of low-income populations (LIPs) in the design and governance of micro-financial services (MFSs) or financial inclusion policies. It also emphasises that different viable segments/consumers of the micro-financial market, having unique needs and characteristics, should be served with duly co-designed/customised products to effectively meet the specific needs of each segment. As prompted by one of the systematic literature reviews conducted, the thesis investigated the determinants of a co-designed, customised, and innovative microinsurance product—Point-of-Sale (POS)–related micro cyber-risk insurance (PRMCRI). As prompted by another systematic literature review, the thesis examined the determinants of undersaving behaviour among a targeted LIP sub-group (i.e., branchless banking agents or retail e-payment agents, REAs), considering behavioural factors, socio-demographic characteristics, and experimental outcomes from their use of an innovative, co-designed microsaving product. The main research question posed is: Which factors influence undersaving behaviour or the uptake of a co-designed innovative microinsurance product? Other resolved related questions are: Which demographic factors influence the willingness to pay for co-designed PRMCRI? Which demographic factors influence undersaving behaviour? Meanwhile, given that REAs earn income on a daily basis, undersaving behaviour among REAs is operationalised using benchmark-defined undersaving, described as daily savings below 12% of an individual REA’s average daily income. To answer these questions and other inquiries, the thesis used simple survey, the contingent valuation survey, real scenario-based (qualitative) remarks from respondents, descriptive statistics, logistic regression analysis and an experimental intervention/outcome to (among other things) demonstrate that LIPs (specifically REAs operating in Lagos slums and rural dwellers in Northern/Southern Nigeria) are receptive to the idea/concept of participatory financial inclusion (PFI) and are more than willing to support its actual implementation. The main findings revealed that willingness to pay (WTP) for PRMCRI is only slightly sensitive to premium price. REAs’ perceptions of inflation, interest rates, deployment/administration of PRMCRI on mobile-technology platforms and the effectiveness of regulatory consumer protection all have positive statistical significance on their WTP for PRMCRI. In addition, REAs’ income and their ex-ante POS-related cyber risk (PRCR) perceptions both have statistically significant influence on WTP for PRMCRI, while ex-post PRCR perceptions and risk aversion (or PRCR aversion) were not significant. Socio-demographic variables were also mostly not significant, as only marital status significantly influenced WTP for PRMCRI. As REAs actively co-designed PRMCRI with local micro-insurers, this novel product-design collaboration not only significantly influences REAs’ WTP for PRMCRI but also appears to be mission critical for the product’s eventual success. In other words, provider-consumer co-design collaboration statistically and positively influences WTP for PRMCRI. The thesis also (re)sensitises stakeholders to the fact that cyber-risks will escalate as digital micro-financial services surge in developing countries, making PRMCRI and similar co-designed products crucial for subscribers’ welfare. Ultimately, it is expected that the introduced PRMCRI and its associated empirical/policy dynamics will champion a novel and seminal path for global micro cyber-insurance markets, future studies and policies. On the other hand, the measured self-control of these REAs (using instrument earlier validated in extant literature) was evinced as having a statistically significant negative effect on benchmark-defined undersaving. In other words, lower levels of measured self-control correlate with increased undersaving behaviour and vice versa. Measured REAs’ risk aversion (or PRCR-aversion) have no statistical significance on benchmark-defined undersaving. Although, the 60-day 5 experimental treatment of programmed microsaving scheme (PMSS), which is a hard commitment savings device (CSD) appears to have contributed to improvements in post-treatment saving participation and performance among REAs, it did not significantly increase the likelihood of reaching or exceeding the 12% benchmark savings threshold. The study (re)draws stakeholders’ attention to the chronic undersaving behaviour bedevilling the LIPs and calls for necessary collaborative and institutional actions for its sustainable resolution, especially as these vulnerable groups purposefully strive for enhanced welfare (short- and long-term) and speedy advancement in their personal financial development.
Descrição
Tese Doutoramento, Estudos de Desenvolvimento, ISEG, 2026.
Palavras-chave
Participatory Financial Inclusion (PFI) Segmented Market Theory co-designed micro cyber-risk insurance (MCRI) co-designed programmed microsaving scheme (PMSS) Determinants Willingness to pay (WTP) Undersaving behaviour Benchmark-defined undersaving Branchless banking agents Retail e-payment agents (REAs) Urban slum Neobanks Microinsurers Regulatory effectiveness (RE)