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Do welfare programs work in weak states? Why? Evidence from a maternity support program in India

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  • Ghosh, Prabhat
  • Kochar, Anjini

Abstract

•Weak program implementation makes interpretation of results of program evaluation difficult.•Households may adjust to implementation failures in a variety of ways.•Choices over the timing of births reflect expectations of future income.•Estimated effects of a program may have little to do with intended pathways.

Suggested Citation

  • Ghosh, Prabhat & Kochar, Anjini, 2018. "Do welfare programs work in weak states? Why? Evidence from a maternity support program in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 191-208.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:134:y:2018:i:c:p:191-208
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.05.008
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    Cited by:

    1. Kekre, Aishwarya & Mahajan, Kanika, 2023. "Maternity support and child health: Unintended gendered effects," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 880-898.
    2. Sarthak Agarwal & Neeraj Katewa, 2024. "Improving Women’s Position in the Household: Evidence from a Maternity Cash Transfer Programme in India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 36(6), pages 1471-1518, December.
    3. Aishwarya Kekre & Kanika Mahajan, 2022. "Maternity Support, Child Health and Unintended Gendered Effects," Working Papers 84, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    4. Paula von Haaren & Stefan Klonner, 2021. "Lessons learned? Intended and unintended effects of India's second‐generation maternal cash transfer scheme," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(10), pages 2468-2486, September.
    5. von Haaren, Paula & Klonner, Stefan, 2020. "Maternal cash for better child health? The impacts of India’s IGMSY/PMMVY maternity benefit scheme," Working Papers 0689, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    6. Barnish, Maxwell S. & Tan, Si Ying & Robinson, Sophie & Taeihagh, Araz & Melendez-Torres, G.J., 2023. "A realist synthesis to develop an explanatory model of how policy instruments impact child and maternal health outcomes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).

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