INSURANCE MARKET DEVELOPMENT BEFORE AND AFTER THE FINANCIAL CRISIS IN THE CONTEXT OF ETHICS AND CORRUPTION

Abstract

The financial crisis can generate instability in any field. High levels of perceived corruption, unethical behavior or high unemployment rate can be several relevant examples that can influence well-being. The purpose of this study is to group and compare EU countries in two important moments: before and after the financial crisis using clusters analysis. Our contributions consist in a new effort to understand the life insurance market. For example, in 2006 countries such as: Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Spain, Sweden or the UK were remarked by the lowest perceived corruption and inflation, medium levels of the population growth and highest: ethical behavior of firms, human development, penetration rate and employment, while Romania and other countries were characterized by the lowest levels of development and highest perceived corruption and inflation. In 2014, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden or the UK recorded the best values of our indicators. In addition, the situation of Romania has not improved significantly between 2006 and 2014.

Keywords

• Insurance
• Ethical behavior
• Human Development
• Corruption
• cluster.