Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/215480 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
GLO Discussion Paper No. 504
Publisher: 
Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen
Abstract: 
Most countries around the world implement some form of a safety net program for poor households. A widespread concern is that such programs crowd out private-sector jobs. But they could also improve workers' welfare by allowing them to take on more risk, for example through self-employment. This paper analyzes the employment impacts of the world's largest public-works program using a novel regression-discontinuity design. The analysis exploits detailed institutional information to describe the allocation formula of the program and to construct a benefit calculator that predicts early and late treatment of districts. The results show that there is little evidence of a crowding out of private-sector jobs. Instead, the scheme functions as a safety net after a bad rainfall shock. Male workers also take on more risk by moving into family employment. This self-revealed preference for a different type of job suggests other potential benefits of safety net programs which so far have received little attention in the literature.
Subjects: 
public-works program
anti-poverty program
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
NREGA
NREGS
India
regression discontinuity design
safety net
crowding out
risk coping
risk mitigation
insurance
JEL: 
H53
H75
I38
J22
J38
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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