Mobile money and healthcare use: evidence from East Africa

Abstract

This paper uses a difference-in-difference framework to estimate the effects of mobile money transfer technology (MMT) on healthcare usage in the face of negative health shocks. We use survey data from 2013-16 with quarterly observations on about 1,600 households of 10 villages in the Kisumu region of Western Kenya. We find evidence that MMT, likely through greater ease of informal borrowing, helps households increase utilization of formal healthcare services in terms of visits to a clinic, consultation and medication expenditures in comparison with the nonusers of this technology

Keywords

economy; healthcare

Published in

NBER working papers
2019, number: 25669
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research

SLU Authors

• Ahmed, Haseeb

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Information Technology University

UKÄ Subject classification

Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3386/w25669

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/101298