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Health Shocks And Consumption Smoothing In Rural Households: Does Microcredit Have A Role To Play?

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  • Asadul Islam
  • Pushkar Maitra

Abstract

This paper estimates, using a large panel data set from rural Bangladesh, the effects of health shocks on household consumption and how access to microcredit affects households' response to such shocks. Our results suggest that even though in general consumption remains stable in many cases when households are exposed to health shocks, households that have access to microcredit appear to cope (slightly) better. The most important instrument used by households appear be sales of productive assets (livestock) and there is a significant mitigating effect of microcredit: households that have access to microcredit do not need to sell livestock to the extent households that do not have access to microcredit need to, in order to insure consumption against health shocks. The results suggest that microcredit organizations and microcredit per se have an insurance role to play, an aspect that has not been analyzed previously.

Suggested Citation

  • Asadul Islam & Pushkar Maitra, 2008. "Health Shocks And Consumption Smoothing In Rural Households: Does Microcredit Have A Role To Play?," Monash Economics Working Papers 22/08, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:mos:moswps:2008-22
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    Cited by:

    1. You, Jing, 2013. "The role of microcredit in older children’s nutrition: Quasi-experimental evidence from rural China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 167-179.
    2. Flores, Gabriela & O’Donnell, Owen, 2016. "Catastrophic medical expenditure risk," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-15.
    3. Jing You & Samuel Annim, 2014. "The Impact of Microcredit on Child Education: Quasi-experimental Evidence from Rural China," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(7), pages 926-948, July.
    4. Ambrosius, Christian & Cuecuecha, Alfredo, 2013. "Are Remittances a Substitute for Credit? Carrying the Financial Burden of Health Shocks in National and Transnational Households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 143-152.
    5. S. R. Osmani & Meherun Ahmed, 2013. "Vulnerability to Shocks and Coping Strategies in Rural Bangladesh," Working Papers 21, Institute of Microfinance (InM).
    6. Arghya Kusum Mukherjee & Amit Kundu, 2012. "Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojona as a Safety Net: Evidence from Murshidabad District of West Bengal," Bangladesh Development Studies, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), vol. 35(1), pages 79-103.
    7. Islam, Asadul & Maitra, Pushkar, 2012. "Health shocks and consumption smoothing in rural households: Does microcredit have a role to play?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 232-243.
    8. Robert Sparrow & Ellen Van de Poel & Gracia Hadiwidjaja & Athia Yumna & Nila Warda & Asep Suryahadi, "undated". "Financial Consequences of Ill Health and Informal Coping Mechanisms in Indonesia," Working Papers 296, Communications Section.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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