Credit Market Conditions and Mental Health

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hu, Qing; Levine, Ross; Lin, Chen; Tai, Mingzhu
• 署名单位: Renmin University of China; Stanford University; University of Hong Kong
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2023.00194
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: health; Financial institutions; personal finance; cost of capital; COMPETITION

摘要

Research offers conflicting predictions about the impact of credit conditions on mental health. We first assess how bank regulatory reforms that improved credit conditions, for example, by enhancing the efficiency of credit allocation and lowering lending rates, impacted mental health. We discover that among low-income individuals, these regulatory reforms reduced mental depression, boosted labor market outcomes, eased access to mortgage debt, and reduced the ranks of the unbanked. We also find that mergers of large regional banks that led to branch closures and tighter credit constraints in affected counties harmed the mental health of lower-income individuals in treated counties.