Part of the Townsend Thai Project, Risk, Insurance, and the Family is an NICHD-NSF funded project whose purpose is to evaluate the role of informal institutions such as the family and local networks in helping to support the welfare and well-being of individuals in semi-urban and rural areas of Thailand.

Risk, and the potentially adverse and direct consequences of household- and firm-specific shocks is a key part of project. The mediating role of the family and social and economic networks in the mobilization of savings and allocation of credit was also deemed essential. These networks are not viewed in isolation but rather are part of the larger village, regional, and national level financial system.

Thus the project includes an evaluation of village-level financial institutions, such as Production Credit Groups and rice banks, and national-level financial institutions such as commercial banks and the government agricultural bank, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).