Piecing together partial solutions: Financial tools to cope with shocks

Through a series of 16 “Client Math” studies, the MicroInsurance Centre’s MILK Project has worked to gain insight into the role of various financing tools in the wake of a financial “shock”: a family member’s death, property damage, or a healthcare need. In particular, we have aimed to understand the cost of these shocks and, for those who are insured, the role that microinsurance plays as a part of the financial toolbox used to cover these shocks. In this paper we analyze the various tools that insured and uninsured respondents used to manage financial shocks, and we discuss the extent to which these tools were accessible and / or burdensome to them. This analysis can help us further understand the added value that one tool may have over its alternatives and shed light on where and how insurance fits into the financial toolbox of low-income households.