A car accident, a burglary, a washing machine breaking down. No-one is immune from these sorts of incidents – and insurance provides us with a way to mitigate that risk. Low-income households can face these issues like anyone else. But they are significantly less likely to have insurance to cover them.

And where low-income households do have insurance, it is often more expensive for a variety of reasons. These include low-income households being seen as higher risks, having to pay by more expensive methods, or being less likely to switch and end up paying a ‘loyalty penalty’.

Published in April 2019 by WPI Economics.