Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • Article
  • Journal of Marketing Research (JMR)

Marketing Complex Financial Products in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Rainfall Insurance in India

By: Sarthak Gaurav, Shawn A. Cole and Jeremy Tobacman
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:13
ShareBar

Abstract

Recent financial liberalization in emerging economies has led to the rapid introduction of new financial products. Lack of experience with financial products, low levels of education, and low financial literacy may slow adoption of these products. This article reports on a field experiment that offered an innovative new financial product, rainfall insurance, to 600 small-scale farmers in India. A customized financial literacy and insurance education module communicating the need for personal financial management and the usefulness of formal hedging of agricultural production risks was offered to randomly selected farmers in Gujarat, India. The authors evaluate the effect of the financial literacy training and three marketing treatments using a randomized controlled trial. Financial education has a positive and significant effect on rainfall insurance adoption, increasing take-up from 8% to 16%. Only one marketing intervention, the money-back guarantee, has a consistent and large effect on farmers' purchase decisions. This guarantee, comparable to a price reduction of approximately 40%, increases demand by seven percentage points.

Keywords

Literacy; Insurance; Marketing; Decisions; Demand and Consumers; Financial Instruments; Emerging Markets; Education; Personal Finance; Agribusiness; Developing Countries and Economies; Innovation and Invention; Gujarat

Citation

Gaurav, Sarthak, Shawn A. Cole, and Jeremy Tobacman. "Marketing Complex Financial Products in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Rainfall Insurance in India." Journal of Marketing Research (JMR) 48, no. SPL (November 2011): S150–S162.
  • Find it at Harvard

About The Author

Shawn A. Cole

Finance
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • September 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Root Capital and the Efficient Impact Frontier Simulation Dataset for Students

    By: Shawn Cole
    • September 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Root Capital and the Efficient Impact Frontier Simulation: Guidelines and Suggestions

    By: Shawn Cole
    • 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Targeting, Personalization, and Engagement in an Agricultural Advisory Service

    By: Susan Athey, Shawn Cole, Shanjukta Nath and Jessica Zhu
More from the Authors
  • Root Capital and the Efficient Impact Frontier Simulation Dataset for Students By: Shawn Cole
  • Root Capital and the Efficient Impact Frontier Simulation: Guidelines and Suggestions By: Shawn Cole
  • Targeting, Personalization, and Engagement in an Agricultural Advisory Service By: Susan Athey, Shawn Cole, Shanjukta Nath and Jessica Zhu
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College