IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/ecdecc/doi10.1086-714269.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Labor Market Interventions Incentivize Technology Adoption? Unexpected Impacts of the World’s Largest Rural Poverty Program

Author

Listed:
  • Anil K. Bhargava

Abstract

This paper investigates whether higher unskilled agricultural wages attributed to a labor market intervention incentivize farm owners to adopt labor-saving agricultural technology. Using a regression discontinuity design centered on the rollout of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee in 2006 and detailed agricultural census data, I find 10–25 percentage point shifts away from labor-intensive technologies toward labor-saving ones due to the program. These shifts are driven by India’s smallest farmers and the use of basic technologies that directly replace unskilled labor. Unintended impacts such as these have the potential to shape rural landscapes over time in unexpected ways. Future policies aimed at the poorest segments of the rural population can complement labor market interventions with a renewed focus on high-quality infrastructure and preparation of unskilled workers for higher-value jobs.

Suggested Citation

  • Anil K. Bhargava, 2023. "Do Labor Market Interventions Incentivize Technology Adoption? Unexpected Impacts of the World’s Largest Rural Poverty Program," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 71(2), pages 567-620.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:ecdecc:doi:10.1086/714269
    DOI: 10.1086/714269
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/714269
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/714269
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/714269?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ucp:ecdecc:doi:10.1086/714269. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/EDCC .

    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.