Social insurance in self help groups: A generalized propensity score approach

Abstract

We use novel data from a primary survey conducted in two districts in West Bengal (India) to study the impact of joining an SHG on the social insurance enjoyed by members. In this paper, we judge social insurance by the amount a woman thinks she can raise in times of an emergency by borrowing from others. Propensity score matching is used to estimate results. Additionally, we use a generalized propensity score matching method to determine if the social insurance enjoyed by members changes with the length of their membership. We find that joining an SHG has a positive impact on our variable of interest. Additionally, the level of social insurance is a U shaped function of the length of SHG membership.