Mobile Money and Healthcare Use: Evidence from East Africa

Haseeb Ahmed and Benjamin Cowan

No 25669, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper uses a difference-in-difference framework to estimate the effects of mobile money transfer technology (MMT) on healthcare usage in the face of negative health shocks. We use survey data from 2013-16 with quarterly observations on about 1,600 households of 10 villages in the Kisumu region of Western Kenya. We find evidence that MMT, likely through greater ease of informal borrowing, helps households increase utilization of formal healthcare services in terms of visits to a clinic, consultation and medication expenditures in comparison with the non-users of this technology.

JEL-codes: I13 I15 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-mfd and nep-pay
Note: DEV EH
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published as Haseeb Ahmed & Benjamin Cowan, 2021. "Mobile money and healthcare use: Evidence from East Africa," World Development, vol 141.

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