IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/manlab/v40y2015i3-4p366-384.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS): Wages, Reservation Wages and Programme Participation in Chitradurga District of Karnataka

Author

Listed:
  • Kala Seetharam Sridhar
  • A.V. Reddy

Abstract

We evaluate India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Using data from extensive primary surveys of MGNREGS beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries in Chitradurga district of Karnataka, we find that women tended to benefit more from the programme. This is a major MGNREGS contribution because women have always been paid less than men in farms and construction sites. The wages NREGS beneficiaries got were well below their asking wages (which was ₹ 207 a day), being only ₹ 98 a day on an average. The estimation of reservation wages shows that higher current wages increase reservation wages. The elasticity of reservation wage with respect to work experience is negative. We use a two-step regression model to understand the determinants of participation in the programme and of NREGS wages. We conclude that the programme has had a favourable impact on reducing rural poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • Kala Seetharam Sridhar & A.V. Reddy, 2015. "India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS): Wages, Reservation Wages and Programme Participation in Chitradurga District of Karnataka," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 40(3-4), pages 366-384, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:manlab:v:40:y:2015:i:3-4:p:366-384
    DOI: 10.1177/0258042X15627077
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0258042X15627077
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0258042X15627077?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kala Seetharam Sridhar, 1996. "Tax Costs and Employment Benefits of Enterprise Zones," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 10(1), pages 69-90, February.
    2. Mukherji, Rahul, 2014. "Political Economy of Reforms in India: Oxford India Short Introductions," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198087335.
    3. Timothy J. Bartik, 1991. "Who Benefits from State and Local Economic Development Policies?," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number wbsle.
    4. Fishe, Raymond P H, 1982. "Unemployment Insurance and the Reservation Wage of the Unemployed," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(1), pages 12-17, February.
    5. Niehaus, Paul & Sukhtankar, Sandip, 2013. "The marginal rate of corruption in public programs: Evidence from India," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 52-64.
    6. Peter Lanjouw & Rinku Murgai, 2009. "Poverty decline, agricultural wages, and nonfarm employment in rural India: 1983–2004," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(2), pages 243-263, March.
    7. Shylashri Shankar & Raghav Gaiha & Raghbendra Jha, 2011. "Information, Access and Targeting: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in India," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 69-95.
    8. Mr. Eswar S Prasad, 2003. "What Determines the Reservation Wages of Unemployed Workers? New Evidence From German Micro Data," IMF Working Papers 2003/004, International Monetary Fund.
    9. Erlend Berg & Sambit Bhattacharyya & Rajasekhar Durgam & Manjula Ramachandra, 2012. "Can Rural Public Works Affect Agricultural Wages? Evidence from India," CSAE Working Paper Series 2012-05, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    10. Dutta, Puja & Murgai, Rinku & Ravallion., Martin & van de Walle, Dominique, 2012. "Does India's employment guarantee scheme guarantee employment ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6003, The World Bank.
    11. Zimmermann, Laura V, 2012. "Labor Market Impacts of a Large-Scale Public Works Program: Evidence from the Indian Employment Guarantee Scheme," IZA Discussion Papers 6858, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Klonner, Stefan & Oldiges , Christian, 2014. "Safety Net for India's Poor or Waste of Public Funds? Poverty and Welfare in the Wake of the World's Largest Job Guarantee Program," Working Papers 0564, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    13. Donald Haurin & Kala Sridhar, 2003. "The impact of local unemployment rates on reservation wages and the duration of search for a job," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(13), pages 1469-1476.
    14. Azam, Mehtabul, 2012. "The Impact of Indian Job Guarantee Scheme on Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 6548, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. van Ophem, Hans & Hartog, Joop & Berkhout, Peter, 2011. "Reservation Wages and Starting Wages," IZA Discussion Papers 5435, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nandy, Amarendu & Tiwari, Chhavi & Kundu, Sayantan, 2021. "India’s Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme – How does it influence seasonal rural out-migration decisions?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 1181-1203.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Deininger, Klaus & Liu, Yanyan, 2019. "Heterogeneous welfare impacts of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: Evidence from Andhra Pradesh, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 98-111.
    2. Mushtaq Ahmad Malla, 2020. "MGNREGA in Kashmir: An Analysis of Labour Market Outcomes and Livelihood Security," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 14(3), pages 424-446, December.
    3. Songqing Jin & Yanyan Liu, 2013. "Welfare and Poverty Impacts of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: Evidence from Andhra Pradesh," Working Papers id:5530, eSocialSciences.
    4. Berg, Erlend & Bhattacharyya, Sambit & Rajasekhar, D. & Manjula, R., 2018. "Can public works increase equilibrium wages? Evidence from India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 239-254.
    5. Misra, Kartik, 2019. "Does historical land inequality attenuate the positive impact of India’s employment guarantee program?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    6. Kartik Misra, 2019. "No Employment without Participation : An Evaluation of India's Employment Program in Eastern Uttar Pradesh," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2019-13, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    7. Manisha Shah & Bryce Millett Steinberg, 2021. "Workfare and Human Capital Investment: Evidence from India," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(2), pages 380-405.
    8. Thiemo Fetzer, 2014. "Can Workfare Programs Moderate Violence? Evidence from India," STICERD - Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Papers Series 53, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    9. Bose, Nayana, 2017. "Raising Consumption Through India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 245-263.
    10. Klonner, Stefan & Oldiges , Christian, 2014. "Safety Net for India's Poor or Waste of Public Funds? Poverty and Welfare in the Wake of the World's Largest Job Guarantee Program," Working Papers 0564, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    11. Khanna, Gaurav & Zimmermann, Laura, 2017. "Guns and butter? Fighting violence with the promise of development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 120-141.
    12. World Trade Organisation, 2015. "India Development Update : Towards a Higher Growth Path," Working Papers id:6821, eSocialSciences.
    13. Drèze, Jean & Khera, Reetika, 2017. "Recent Social Security Initiatives in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 555-572.
    14. Parmar, Divya & Banerjee, Aneesh, 2019. "Impact of an employment guarantee scheme on utilisation of maternal healthcare services: Results from a natural experiment in India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 285-293.
    15. Mihir Shah, 2016. "Should India do away with the MGNREGA?," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 59(1), pages 125-153, March.
    16. Deininger, Klaus & Liu, Yanyan, 2013. "Welfare and poverty impacts of India's national rural employment guarantee scheme : evidence from Andhra Pradesh," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6543, The World Bank.
    17. Chari, A.V. & Glick, Peter & Okeke, Edward & Srinivasan, Sinduja V., 2019. "Workfare and infant health: Evidence from India's public works program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 116-134.
    18. World Bank Group, 2015. "India Development Update, April 2015," World Bank Publications - Reports 21872, The World Bank Group.
    19. Laura Zimmermann, 2014. "Public works programs in developing countries have the potential to reduce poverty," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-25, May.
    20. Sarbajit Chaudhuri & Sushobhan Mahata & Salonkara Chaudhuri, 2022. "COVID-19 disaster and employment generation program in a developing economy," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 24(1), pages 46-64, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:manlab:v:40:y:2015:i:3-4:p:366-384. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.xlri.ac.in/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.