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Do Microfinance Programs Help Families Insure Consumption Against Illness?

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Author Info
Paul Gertler (University of Caifornia, Berkeley and NBER)
David Levine (Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley)
Enrico Moretti (Department of Economics, UCLA)

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Abstract

Families in developing countries face enormous financial risks from major illness both in terms of the cost of medical care and the loss in income associated with reduced labor supply and productivity. We test whether access to microfinancial savings and lending institutions helps Indonesian families smooth consumption after declines in adult health. In general, results support the importance of these institutions in helping families to self-insure consumption against health shocks.

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Paper provided by Center for International and Development Economics Research, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley in its series Center for International and Development Economics Research, Working Paper Series with number 1045.

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Date of creation: 05 Feb 2003
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Handle: RePEc:cdl:ciders:1045

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Related research
Keywords: consumption smoothing; lifecycle hypothesis; Indonesia;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Fafchamps, Marcel & Udry, Christopher & Czukas, Katherine, 1998. "Drought and saving in West Africa: are livestock a buffer stock?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 273-305, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Cox, Donald & Jappelli, Tullio, 1990. "Credit Rationing and Private Transfers: Evidence from Survey Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(3), pages 445-54, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Smith, J-P & Kington, R, 1997. "Demographic and Economic Correlates of Health in Old Age," Papers 97-06, RAND - Reprint Series.
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  5. Yaron, Jacob & Benjamin, McDonald & Charitonenko, Stephanie, 1998. "Promoting Efficient Rural Financial Intermediation," World Bank Research Observer, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 147-70, August. [Downloadable!]
  6. Jalan, Jyotsna & Ravallion, Martin, 1997. "Are the poor less well-insured? Evidence on vulnerability to income risk in rural China," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1863, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Pitt, Mark M & Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1985. "Health and Nutrient Consumption across and within Farm Households," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(2), pages 212-23, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Attanasio, Orazio & Rios-Rull, Jose-Victor, 2000. "Consumption smoothing in island economies: Can public insurance reduce welfare?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(7), pages 1225-1258, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. McCarthy, Jonathan, 1995. "Imperfect insurance and differing propensities to consume across households," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 301-327, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Deaton, Angus, 1991. "Saving and Liquidity Constraints," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(5), pages 1221-48, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Martin Ravallion & Shubham Chaudhuri, 1997. "Risk and Insurance in Village India: Comment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(1), pages 171-184, January.
  12. Sindelar, J. & Thomas, D., 1991. "Measurement of Child Health: Maternal Response Bias," Papers 633, Yale - Economic Growth Center.
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  14. Nelson, J.A., 1993. "On Testing for Full Insurance Using Consumer Expenditures Survey Data," Papers 93-02, California Davis - Institute of Governmental Affairs.
  15. Schultz, T. Paul & Tansel, Aysit, 1997. "Wage and labor supply effects of illness in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana: instrumental variable estimates for days disabled," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 251-286, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Hayashi, Fumio & Altonji, Joseph & Kotlikoff, Laurence, 1996. "Risk-Sharing between and within Families," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(2), pages 261-94, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Kochar, Anjini, 1995. "Explaining Household Vulnerability to Idiosyncratic Income Shocks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 159-64, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Cochrane, John H, 1991. "A Simple Test of Consumption Insurance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(5), pages 957-76, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Cox, Donald, 1990. "Intergenerational Transfers and Liquidity Constraints," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 105(1), pages 187-217, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. John Bound & Michael Schoenbaum & Timothy Waidmann, 1995. "Race and Education Differences in Disability Status and Labor Force Attachment," NBER Working Papers 5159, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Townsend, Robert M, 1994. "Risk and Insurance in Village India," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(3), pages 539-91, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. Townsend, Robert M, 1995. "Consumption Insurance: An Evaluation of Risk-Bearing Systems in Low-Income Economies," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 83-102, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Paul Gertler & Jonathan Gruber, 2002. "Insuring Consumption Against Illness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 51-70, March. [Downloadable!]
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Raj Chetty & Adam Looney, 2005. "Income Risk and the Benefits of Social Insurance: Evidence from Indonesia and the United States," NBER Working Papers 11708, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Levine, Ross, 2009. "Finance and inequality : theory and evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4967, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Yasushi Iwamoto & Miki Kohara & Makoto Saito, 2006. "On the Consumption Insurance Effects of Long-term Care Insurance In Japan: Evidence from Micro Household Data," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-443, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
  4. Kathleen Beegle & Rajeev Dehejia & Roberta Gatti, 2003. "Child Labor, Crop Shocks, and Credit Constraints," NBER Working Papers 10088, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Leonardo Becchetti & Giuseppina Gianfreda, 2008. "When consumption heals producers: the effect of fair trade on marginalised producers’ health and productivity," Working Papers 86, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality. [Downloadable!]
  6. Raj Chetty & Adam Looney, 2005. "Consumption Smoothing and the Welfare Consequences of Social Insurance in Developing Economies," NBER Working Papers 11709, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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