Bank Presence and Health
JOB MARKET PAPER
Winner of the CEPR Household Finance PhD Student Prize (discussant: Emily Breza, Harvard), Chazen Research Grant,
Bernstein Center Research Grant, and Columbia Business School Best PhD Paper Award
This paper examines whether more bank presence in underserved areas can improve households’ health. I utilize a policy of the Reserve Bank of India from 2005, applying a regression discontinuity design. Five years after the policy introduction, treatment districts have 27 more branches than control districts, corresponding to around 239,000 new savings accounts and 258 million USD in credit. This improved financial access in treatment districts positively impacts health. Six years after the policy, households are 19 percentage points less likely to suffer from a non-chronic illness in a given month. Chronic diseases remain unaffected. Examining this natural experiment allows to study the impact of a comprehensive range of financial services over a large scale and long duration.
Presentations:
AEA, Applied Young Economist Webinar (AYEW), Bocconi University Finance Department, Boulder Summer Conference, CEPR Advanced Forum for Financial Economics (CAFFE), CEPR European Conference on Household Finance, City University of London Economics Department, Columbia Development Colloquium, Columbia Finance Seminar, Cornell University Finance Group, Columbia PhD Finance Seminar, Development and Political Econ SF Bay Area PhD Student Conference (DevPEC), Emerging Scholars in Banking and Finance Conference, European Economics Association (EEA), European Finance Association (EFA) Doctoral Tutorial, FIRS, FMA, German Center for Development Research, GRAFSI Zurich, HEC Paris Finance Department, Household Finance Workshop Frankfurt, IESE Business School Finance Department, IIM Calcutta - NYU Stern India Research Conference, Imperial College Business School, International Conference on Globalization and Development (GlaD), John Hopkins SAIS, Macro Finance Society Workshop PhD Session, North East Universities Development Consortium (NEUDC), Northwestern University Kellogg Finance Department, NOVAFRICA Conference on Economic Development, NSE - NYU Conference, NTU Finance, NUS Finance, NYU Abu Dhabi Economics Department, Queen Mary University, Rice University Jonas Graduate School of Business Finance Department, Rome Junior Finance Conference, SAET Paris, SFS Cavalcade, Transatlantic Doctoral Conference (LBS), Universitat Pompeu Fabra Internal Applied Econ Seminar, University of Manchester, University of Oklahoma Finance Department, University of Southern California Marshall School of Business Finance Department, University of Texas Austin McCombs School of Business Finance Department, Washington University Olin Business School Finance Department, Webinar Series in Finance and Development (WEFIDEV), World Bank Development Research Group