📖 Read the full paper:
ritikasethi.com/assets/mishr...
🎮 Explore our interactive app to visualize the findings:
mishradibya.com/pmbjp/
Feedback welcome! 📩
#HealthEconomics #DevelopmentEconomics #EconomicsOfEducation 🌟
8/ Conclusion:
Affordable menstrual products drive cascading benefits for health and education. 🌱
Tackling infrastructure gaps and cultural barriers can amplify these impacts. 🛠️
7/ Policy Implications:
📌 Align menstrual health programs with waste management policies.
📌 Target areas with shared toilets/crowded housing.
📌 Address cultural barriers to increase mobility and access.
6/ Spatial Insights:
Pharmacies near hospitals 🏥 & markets 🏪 had higher adoption rates, showcasing spatial complementarities.
Visibility & routine access matter, but underserved areas may still face unmet demand. 🚦
5/ Barriers to Adoption:
🚮 Waste Management: Inadequate disposal systems hinder transition from cloth to pads.
🚪 Privacy: Women in crowded/shared spaces are more likely to adopt disposable products.
🚶 Travel Autonomy: Cultural & safety barriers limit women’s mobility to access products.
4/ Key Results:
Access to subsidized sanitary napkins:
🔹 Increased pad usage by 15% 🩹
🔹 Prolonged schooling by 8 months (~6%) 🏫
🔹 Improved learning outcomes by 2% 🧠
3/ Methodology:
Using doubly-robust difference-in-differences, we studied how proximity to pharmacies affects:
✅ Menstrual hygiene (shift from cloth to pads)
✅ Educational outcomes (enrollment, learning levels) 📈
2/ Data Sources:
We compiled a rich dataset:
📄 Administrative records of generic pharmacies
📊 Health & education surveys
🏘️ Village infrastructure surveys
🗺️ Spatial API for amenity mapping
1/ Policy Context:
India's Jan Aushadhi program offers sanitary napkins at highly subsidized rates (~₹1/pad) via generic pharmacies. Launched in 2018, this initiative aims to tackle period poverty and improve health and education outcomes. 🏥📚
Pharmacy Proximity & Period Poverty: My working paper with @rsritikasethi.bsky.social (on the #EconJobMarket! 🎓) investigates the impact of subsidized menstrual products in India on women’s health 🩸 and education 📚, using nationwide data on generic pharmacies. A thread on key findings: 🧵👇