Research

Medical Sciences

Title :

Modelling Maternal Healthcare Seeking Behaviour in response to Conditional Cash Transfers: A Regression Discontinuity Design

Area of research :

Medical Sciences

Focus area :

Quantitative Social Sciences

Principal Investigator :

Dr. Meghna Dutta, Indian Institute Of Technology (IIT) Patna, Bihar

Timeline Start Year :

2024

Timeline End Year :

2027

Contact info :

Details

Executive Summary :

Conditional Cash Transfers (RD) are crucial social aids in developing countries, particularly in India. The Janani Surakshna Yojna (JSY) is a program that provides cash to mothers who give birth institutionally, aiming to decrease maternal mortality and increase demand for maternal healthcare services. Due to the program's long-standing nature and erratic pre-program data, experimental designs are not feasible. RD is a non-experimental evaluation design that requires milder assumptions than other methods. RD is more credible than "natural experiments" like difference-in-differences or instrumental variable approaches. In this study, individuals have imprecise control over the assignment variable, and the study will use the fuzzy regression discontinuity design to address imperfect assignment. Variation in cohort exposure to the program, particularly age and wealth cohorts, will be exploited to minimize differential measurement error and understand the relationship between cohort-specific characteristics and maternal healthcare seeking behavior.

Total Budget (INR):

6,60,000

Organizations involved