La domanda di assicurazioni vita da parte delle famiglie italiane: evidenze dal dataset SHIW

This study analyzed empirically the determinants of life insurance demand among Italian households. The data source we use for our empirical analysis is the Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) conducted by the Bank of Italy in 2010. We estimated with a Probit model how individual socio-demographic characteristics and economic variables affect the probability of having a life insurance. Our main findings are the following: in accordance with the existing literature we find that the level of household income considerably increases the probability, as well as a high educational level makes the purchase of a life insurance more likely. Furthermore also the employment status is significantly related to life insurance demand: while the impact of being self-employed or manager on the demand for life insurance is positive, being retired affect life insurance consumption in negative way. Instead, household size i.e. the number of household members, and size of municipality seem to be negatively related to the life insurance ownership probability. In this study, we also investigated potential differences in the determinants of life insurance demand among men and women: our result indicates that males have a higher life insurance ownership probability compared to females. These results have important implications for life insurance companies in their marketing of life insurance products.