Social groups and credit shocks: Evidence of inequalities in consumption smoothing

Vibhor Saxena (), Ishaan Bindal and Philippe LeMay-Boucher

Economic Analysis and Policy, 2020, vol. 68, issue C, 311-326

Abstract: A strand of research holds the view that restricting access to credit to regulate over-borrowing can worsen consumers’ financial condition. Another strand of research holds the view that access to credit in the developing countries with subprime credit markets is determined by social groupings and ethnic affiliations. By merging these two strands of research, we investigate the impact of Andhra Pradesh microfinance act (2010) on the consumption expenditure of marginalised social groups and the upper caste Hindu groups in India. We construct an aggregated district level panel data for eight quarters and estimate the impact of unanticipated policy change. The results of our analysis show that the sudden restriction of access to credit has relatively larger impact on the consumption levels of the marginalised social groups: lower castes, tribes, and Muslims. The findings also confirm the failure of contingency policy enacted for smoothing consumption.

Keywords: Financial deleveraging; Social insurance; Consumption smoothing; Microfinance; Andhra Pradesh (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 G2 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:68:y:2020:i:c:p:311-326

DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2020.10.004

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