A geography of insurance exclusion: perceptions of unemployment risk and actuarial risk assessment

Summary Proposed welfare reform in Great Britain advocates joint public and private provision of insurance. Using omnibus survey data, this paper projects the availability and geographical coverage of private unemployment insurance in Britain among currently employed persons, on the basis of actuarial risk assessment criteria. It compares actuarial risk assessments with the respondents' subjective job risk assessments and their declared intention to take out private unemployment insurance. The paper identifies the extent and geography of structural/self-exclusion from insurance.