Bank presence and health

Kim Fe Cramer

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This article examines whether more bank presence in underserved areas can improve households’ health. Leveraging a 2005 Reserve Bank of India policy and a regression discontinuity design, I demonstrate that 5 years post-policy, treatment districts have twenty-seven more bank branches than control districts. This expansion increases household employment and access to savings accounts, enhancing health investments. On the healthcare supply side, hospitals utilize more credit and expand services. Six years after the policy, households in treatment districts are nineteen percentage points less likely to suffer from non-chronic illnesses in a given month. Chronic diseases remain unaffected.

Keywords: financial development; banks; health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G21 O16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2025-09-30
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Published in Review of Finance, 30, September, 2025, 29(5), pp. 1497 - 1535. ISSN: 1572-3097

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