Role of Legal and Political Institutions in Life Insurance Development; a Case Study of OIC Countries

Life insurance is an important financial institution that, besides other institutions as the channel directing the household's savings, plays a key role in providing and mobilizing the financial resources in order to be invested in money and capital markets. Despite its importance in economic development and growth, it has not been sufficiently developed in Islamic countries. One of its most important causes is the prevalence of some special beliefs in these countries in this regard and the alleged existence of interest, usury and gambling in this kind of insurance. In the present article, the difference between insurance and these concepts has been explained, and some solutions have been proposed for life insurance's being developed in Islamic countries via the legal and political institution's becoming effective and insurance activitie's getting clear in order for the financial resources of life insurance to be invested in productive, employment-creating and Islam-congruent activities. Our main goal, here, is to investigate the effect of legal and political variables on the demand for life insurance in OIC members during the period 1999-2011 using a balanced panel data approach. The results indicate that the proper function of legal and political supervisory institutions and the proper situation of such economic variables as financial development, per capita income and human capital as a measure of risk aversion have a significant positive effect on the development of life insurance in the selected Islamic countries, while the expected inflation rate has a significant negative effect in this regard.