Why Guarantee Employment? Evidence from a Large Indian Public-Works Program

By:

Zimmermann, Laura V

Material type:

Continuing resourcePublication details: Economic Development and Cultural Change; 2024Description: 2031-2067ISSN:

0013-0079

Subject(s):

Online resources:

Click here to access online

Summary: Most countries implement safety net programs for poor households. A widespread concern is that such programs crowd out private-sector jobs, but they could also affect workers' job choice. This paper analyzes the first-year employment impacts of the world's largest public-works program, India's National Rural Employment Generation Scheme (NREGS), using a novel regression-discontinuity design. It focuses on districts treated in phase 2 of the NREGS rollout, which excludes poorer districts that were already treated. The results show that there is little evidence of a crowding out of private-sector jobs. Instead, male workers move from work for pay to family employment, which is driven by smallholder farmers.

Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Vol info	Status	Barcode
Article Index	Dr VKRV Rao Library	Vol. 72, No. 4	Not for loan	AI801

Most countries implement safety net programs for poor households. A widespread concern is that such programs crowd out private-sector jobs, but they could also affect workers' job choice. This paper analyzes the first-year employment impacts of the world's largest public-works program, India's National Rural Employment Generation Scheme (NREGS), using a novel regression-discontinuity design. It focuses on districts treated in phase 2 of the NREGS rollout, which excludes poorer districts that were already treated. The results show that there is little evidence of a crowding out of private-sector jobs. Instead, male workers move from work for pay to family employment, which is driven by smallholder farmers.

There are no comments on this title.

to post a comment.