Government Role in the Risk Sharing of Thai Households
Abstract
This paper estimates the impact of the government’s role on the risk sharing of Thai households, using a Household Socio-Economic Panel Survey data set (SES Panel) for the period between 2005 and 2010. This paper applies contrast estimator techniques, developed by Suri (2013), to estimate the extent of risk sharing. The results show that Thai households in rural areas share risks better than those in urban areas in most parts of the country. The contrast estimator also suggests that village funds help households in urban and rural areas to share risk, and government banks play an important role in risk sharing in rural areas. However, public transfers do not help risk sharing mechanisms in either urban or rural areas.
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