Political Economy of Homeownership and Private Insurance

The study of private welfare institutions such as in the housing or insurance sector has not been a mainstay in comparative political economy. This talk makes use of insights from the political economy of private homeownership to study new old questions in an emerging political economy of private insurance: what are the different worlds of private insurance welfare? Can economic development account for the different worlds and is there a relationship between private insurance and religion? The talk draws on a new historical comparison of OECD countries’ private insurance development over the last 150 years to propose a typology of Maritime and Alpine insurance countries, a non-S-like curve of insurance’s income-elasticity and an elective affinity of insurance with Protestantism.