Description

Using the Household Finance Survey (EFH), this work shows that the use of financial instruments - whether financial assets, debts or insurance contracts - among Chilean households increased substantially since 2007. Complementing this analysis with the Family Expenditures Survey (EPF) between the years of 1987 to 2017, I show that the share of financial goods in expenditures dropped significantly, while the share of insurance products in consumption roughly doubled in this period. This indicates that financial goods are now much less expensive and the number of its users increased significantly. The use of the different insurance contracts (Life and Health, Vehicles, Home, Loan insurance) increased across all income levels. Overall, the widespread use of financial goods, insurance contracts and purchase of durable goods among the Chilean population across all the income levels shows that the financial access to goods and services increased significantly over the last 35 years.