The impact of financial inclusion on mental health

Joseph B Ajefu; Ayse Demir; Houra Haghpanahan

doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100630

The impact of financial inclusion on mental health

Joseph B Ajefu, Ayse Demir, Houra Haghpanahan

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

54 Citations (Scopus)

36 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of financial inclusion on the mental health of heads of household in Nigeria. The study employed data from the 2015/2016 Nigerian General Household Survey (GHS), matched with georeferenced data concerning financial services obtained from the Insight2Impact (i2i) GIS interface. The results indicate that financial inclusion has a strong positive impact on mental health. The study used a robust instrumental variable method, in which a household's distance from the nearest financial institution was used as the instrument for financial inclusion. In addition, it identified the potential channels through which financial inclusion can influence mental health, including: (1) food expenditure; (2) remittances; and (3) risk-coping mechanisms. The findings of this study reinforce growing evidence for the benefits of financial inclusion for alleviating depression symptoms.

Original language	English
Article number	100630
Number of pages	7
Journal	Social Science & Medicine
Volume	11
Early online date	11 Jul 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100630
Publication status	Published - Aug 2020
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

Funding

Funders	Funder number
Economic and Social Research Council	ES/N013344/2

Keywords

Financial inclusion
Mental health
Nigeria

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Health(social science)
Health Policy
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100630Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

PublishedFinal published version, 693 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "The impact of financial inclusion on mental health",

abstract = "This paper examines the impact of financial inclusion on the mental health of heads of household in Nigeria. The study employed data from the 2015/2016 Nigerian General Household Survey (GHS), matched with georeferenced data concerning financial services obtained from the Insight2Impact (i2i) GIS interface. The results indicate that financial inclusion has a strong positive impact on mental health. The study used a robust instrumental variable method, in which a household's distance from the nearest financial institution was used as the instrument for financial inclusion. In addition, it identified the potential channels through which financial inclusion can influence mental health, including: (1) food expenditure; (2) remittances; and (3) risk-coping mechanisms. The findings of this study reinforce growing evidence for the benefits of financial inclusion for alleviating depression symptoms.",

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doi = "10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100630",

language = "English",

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AU - Ajefu, Joseph B

AU - Demir, Ayse

AU - Haghpanahan, Houra

N1 - This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

PY - 2020/8

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N2 - This paper examines the impact of financial inclusion on the mental health of heads of household in Nigeria. The study employed data from the 2015/2016 Nigerian General Household Survey (GHS), matched with georeferenced data concerning financial services obtained from the Insight2Impact (i2i) GIS interface. The results indicate that financial inclusion has a strong positive impact on mental health. The study used a robust instrumental variable method, in which a household's distance from the nearest financial institution was used as the instrument for financial inclusion. In addition, it identified the potential channels through which financial inclusion can influence mental health, including: (1) food expenditure; (2) remittances; and (3) risk-coping mechanisms. The findings of this study reinforce growing evidence for the benefits of financial inclusion for alleviating depression symptoms.

AB - This paper examines the impact of financial inclusion on the mental health of heads of household in Nigeria. The study employed data from the 2015/2016 Nigerian General Household Survey (GHS), matched with georeferenced data concerning financial services obtained from the Insight2Impact (i2i) GIS interface. The results indicate that financial inclusion has a strong positive impact on mental health. The study used a robust instrumental variable method, in which a household's distance from the nearest financial institution was used as the instrument for financial inclusion. In addition, it identified the potential channels through which financial inclusion can influence mental health, including: (1) food expenditure; (2) remittances; and (3) risk-coping mechanisms. The findings of this study reinforce growing evidence for the benefits of financial inclusion for alleviating depression symptoms.

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KW - Mental health

KW - Nigeria

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DO - 10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100630

M3 - Article

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ER -

The impact of financial inclusion on mental health

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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