IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2020-41.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Administrative failures in anti-poverty programmes and household welfare: An investigation of India's employment guarantee programme

Author

Listed:
  • Parantap Basu
  • Rajesh Raj Natarajan
  • Kunal Sen

Abstract

Administrative failures in anti-poverty programmes are widespread in developing countries. We focus on one such administrative failure—the persistent delay in paying beneficiaries on time in India's iconic anti-poverty programme, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Using a life cycle model, we argue that a long wage payment lag in this flagship programme could adversely affect the welfare of the poor through two channels. First, it imposes an implicit consumption tax on the household.

Suggested Citation

  • Parantap Basu & Rajesh Raj Natarajan & Kunal Sen, 2020. "Administrative failures in anti-poverty programmes and household welfare: An investigation of India's employment guarantee programme," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-41, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2020-41
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2020-41.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Basu, Arnab K. & Chau, Nancy H. & Kanbur, Ravi, 2009. "A theory of employment guarantees: Contestability, credibility and distributional concerns," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3-4), pages 482-497, April.
    2. Pranab K. Bardhan, 1983. "Labor-tying in a Poor Agrarian Economy: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(3), pages 501-514.
    3. Besley, Timothy & Coate, Stephen, 1992. "Workfare versus Welfare Incentive Arguments for Work Requirements in Poverty-Alleviation Programs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(1), pages 249-261, March.
    4. Jha, Raghbendra & Bhattacharyya, Sambit & Gaiha, Raghav & Shankar, Shylashri, 2009. ""Capture" of anti-poverty programs: An analysis of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Program in India," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 456-464, September.
    5. Karthik Muralidharan & Paul Niehaus & Sandip Sukhtankar, 2016. "Building State Capacity: Evidence from Biometric Smartcards in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(10), pages 2895-2929, October.
    6. Kalanidhi Subbarao & Carlo del Ninno & Colin Andrews & Claudia Rodríguez-Alas, 2013. "Public Works as a Safety Net : Design, Evidence, and Implementation," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 11882.
    7. Clément Imbert & John Papp, 2015. "Labor Market Effects of Social Programs: Evidence from India's Employment Guarantee," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 233-263, April.
    8. Beegle, Kathleen & Galasso, Emanuela & Goldberg, Jessica, 2017. "Direct and indirect effects of Malawi's public works program on food security," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 1-23.
    9. Ravallion, Martin, 2019. "Guaranteed employment or guaranteed income?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 209-221.
    10. Ravallion, Martin, 1999. "Appraising Workfare," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 14(1), pages 31-48, February.
    11. Ravallion, Martin, 1991. "Reaching the Rural Poor through Public Employment: Arguments, Evidence, and Lessons from South Asia," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 6(2), pages 153-175, July.
    12. Radhika Lal & Steve Miller & Maikel Lieuw-Kie-Song & Daniel Kostzer, 2010. "Public Works and Employment Programmes: Towards a Long-Term Development Approach," Working Papers 66, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    13. Dreze, Jean & Sen, Amartya, 1991. "Hunger and Public Action," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198283652.
    14. Kollmann, Robert, 2002. "Monetary policy rules in the open economy: effects on welfare and business cycles," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 989-1015, July.
    15. Sonalde Desai & Prem Vashishtha & Omkar Joshi, 2015. "Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act: A Catalyst for Rural Transformation," Working Papers id:7259, eSocialSciences.
    16. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Rema Hanna & Gabriel E. Kreindler & Benjamin A. Olken, 2017. "Debunking the Stereotype of the Lazy Welfare Recipient: Evidence from Cash Transfer Programs," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 32(2), pages 155-184.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Parantap Basu & Kunal Sen, 2015. "Welfare Implications of the Indian Employment Guarantee Programme with a Wage Payment Delay," CEMAP Working Papers 2015_01, Durham University Business School.
    2. Parantap Basu & Rajesh Raj S. N & Kunal Sen, 2024. "Payment delay in workfare programmes and household welfare: Theory and some evidence from India," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 92(2), pages 93-121, March.
    3. Gehrke, Esther & Hartwig, Renate, 2018. "Productive effects of public works programs: What do we know? What should we know?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 111-124.
    4. Ravallion, Martin, 2019. "Guaranteed employment or guaranteed income?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 209-221.
    5. Karthik Muralidharan & Paul Niehaus & Sandip Sukhtankar, 2023. "General Equilibrium Effects of (Improving) Public Employment Programs: Experimental Evidence From India," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(4), pages 1261-1295, July.
    6. Marianne Bertrand & Bruno Crépon & Alicia Marguerie & Patrick Premand, 2021. "Do Workfare Programs Live Up to Their Promises? Experimental Evidence from Cote D’Ivoire," NBER Working Papers 28664, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Jules Gazeaud & Victor Stephane, 2023. "Productive Workfare? Evidence from Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Program," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(1), pages 265-290, January.
    8. Klonner, Stefan & Oldiges, Christian, 2022. "The welfare effects of India’s rural employment guarantee," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    9. Zimmermann, Laura, 2020. "Why Guarantee Employment? Evidence from a Large Indian Public-Works Program," GLO Discussion Paper Series 504, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. Merfeld, Joshua D., 2019. "Spatially heterogeneous effects of a public works program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 151-167.
    11. 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.
    12. Basu, Arnab K. & Chau, Nancy H. & Kanbur, Ravi, 2009. "A theory of employment guarantees: Contestability, credibility and distributional concerns," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3-4), pages 482-497, April.
    13. Fetzer, Thiemo, 2019. "Can Workfare Programs Moderate Conflict? Evidence from India," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1220, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    14. 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.
    15. Arnab Basu, 2013. "Impact of rural employment guarantee schemes on seasonal labor markets: optimum compensation and workers’ welfare," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 11(1), pages 1-34, March.
    16. Thiemo Fetzer, 2020. "Can Workfare Programs Moderate Conflict? Evidence from India," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(6), pages 3337-3375.
    17. Gehrke, Esther, 2015. "Can public works infrastructure affect employment outcomes? Evidence from the NREGS in India," IDOS Discussion Papers 9/2015, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    18. Gehrke, Esther & Hartwig, Renate, 2015. "How can public works programmes create sustainable employment?," IDOS Discussion Papers 11/2015, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    19. Alik-Lagrange, Arthur & Buehren, Niklas & Goldstein, Markus & Hoogeveen, Johannes, 2023. "Welfare impacts of public works in fragile and conflict affected economies: The Londö public works in the Central African Republic," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    20. Bagga,Aanchal & Holmlund,Marcus Erik & Khan,Nausheen & Subha,Mani & Mvukiyehe,Eric & Premand,Patrick, 2023. "Do Public Works Programs Have Sustained Impacts ? A Review of Experimental Studies from LMICs," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10471, The World Bank.

    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:unu:wpaper:wp-2020-41. 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: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.html .

    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.