Insurance companies are as popular as banks but life would otherwise be difficult. Without insurance, we would have no option but to carry the full cost of a catastrophic event (house burning down, car getting nicked) on our own. This is okay if we’re really rich, poor or lucky, but not so good the rest of the time.

First published in the April 2008 issue of Street Machine

Instead, insurance allows us to share the risk of something bad happening with other people, by…