The relationship between insurance and economic growth: evidence from the European Union countries

Abstract

This paper has examined the relationships between insurance and economic growth across the European Union countries which belong to the European Insurance Federation. Using annual data over the period of 2004–2015, the authors have done this by applying descriptive statistics analysis and econometric methods as well. This research has contributed to understanding the importance of the insurance–growth nexus and combined different approaches prevailing in the recent scientific literature. The research has led to the following broad conclusions: (1) descriptive statistics analysis has shown that the insurance sector development is higher in economically rich countries, such as the UK, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, France and The Netherlands; (2) a positive statistically significant relationship between insurance penetration and economic growth has been detected in Luxembourg, Denmark, The Netherlands and Finland. Besides, a negative statistically significant relationship has been identified in Austria, Belgium, Malta, Estonia and Slovakia; (3) Granger test has shown unidirectional causality running from GDP to insurance in Luxembourg and Finland; and unidirectional causality from insurance to GDP in The Netherlands, Malta and Estonia. The case of Austria has shown bidirectional causality between the variables. The analysis has presented the absence of causality between insurance and economic growth in Slovakia.