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
Featured on the World Bank Development Impact Blog and the Ideas of India Podcast
This paper demonstrates that increasing bank presence in underserved areas can substantially improve households' health. I apply a regression discontinuity design to a policy of the Reserve Bank of India. Six years after the policy introduction, treatment districts have 19% more branches than control districts. Households' probability of suffering from a non-chronic disease in a given month is 36% lower. I show evidence that two understudied aspects of banking play a role: banks provide health insurance to households and credit to hospitals. In equilibrium, I observe an increase in health care demand and supply.
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, 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, 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, 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 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
Video of my JMP (6min)
Essential Graphs
Underbanked and Banked Districts
