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Barriers to Household Risk Management: Evidence from India

Author

Listed:
  • Petia Topalova
  • Shawn Cole
  • Xavier Gene
  • Jeremy Tobacman
  • Robert Townsend
  • James Vickery

Abstract

Why do many households remain exposed to large exogenous sources of non-systematic income risk? Why don’t financial markets develop to pool these risks? This paper uses a series of randomized field experiments to test the importance of price and non-price factors in the adoption of an innovative rainfall insurance product, designed to hedge a major source of agricultural production risk. [BREAD Working paper No.33]. URL:[http://ipl.econ.duke.edu/bread/papers/working/303.pdf].

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  • Petia Topalova & Shawn Cole & Xavier Gene & Jeremy Tobacman & Robert Townsend & James Vickery, 2011. "Barriers to Household Risk Management: Evidence from India," Working Papers id:4293, eSocialSciences.
    • Handle: RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:4293
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    India; households; exogenous; risk; financial markets; non-price factors; rainfall; insurance product; agricultural production risk; Consumer Finance; Liquidity Constraints; Trust; economic development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

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