Bank presence and health

Cramer, Kim Fe ORCID: 0000-0002-7525-4887 (2025) Bank presence and health. Review of Finance, 29 (5). 1497 - 1535. ISSN 1572-3097

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Abstract

This article examines whether more bank presence in underserved areas can improve households’ health. Leveraging a 2005 Reserve Bank of India policy and a regression discontinuity design, I demonstrate that 5 years post-policy, treatment districts have twenty-seven more bank branches than control districts. This expansion increases household employment and access to savings accounts, enhancing health investments. On the healthcare supply side, hospitals utilize more credit and expand services. Six years after the policy, households in treatment districts are nineteen percentage points less likely to suffer from non-chronic illnesses in a given month. Chronic diseases remain unaffected.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author
Divisions:	Finance
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HG Finance
JEL classification:	G - Financial Economics > G2 - Financial Institutions and Services > G21 - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O16 - Economic Development: Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
Date Deposited:	26 Jun 2025 13:42
Last Modified:	30 Sep 2025 00:00
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/128574

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