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The Impact of Temporary Work Guarantee Programs on Children's Education: Evidence from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Act from India

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  • Shreyasee Das

    (Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater)

  • Abhilasha Singh

    (Department of Economics, University of Houston)

Abstract

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) of 2005 guarantees adult members of rural households to a minimum of 100 days of employment with certain provisions geared speci cally towards women. The phase wise rollout of the program allows us to employ a difference-in-differences strategy to examine the effects on children's education. Using two phases of the District Level of Household and Facility Survey, we find no significant impact of the program on children's education. Although our results are not significant, we find consistent negative coefficients on girls' schooling. These results suggest the interplay of two opposing channels. On the one hand, the increase in income due the program could increase children's schooling. On the other hand, the rise in mothers' work and hence, absence from home may have adversely affected children's education, especially for the older children.

Suggested Citation

  • Shreyasee Das & Abhilasha Singh, 2013. "The Impact of Temporary Work Guarantee Programs on Children's Education: Evidence from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Act from India," Working Papers 13-03, UW-Whitewater, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:uww:wpaper:13-03
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Anjali Adukia & Sam Asher & Paul Novosad, 2020. "Educational Investment Responses to Economic Opportunity: Evidence from Indian Road Construction," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 348-376, January.
    2. Bose, Nayana, 2017. "Raising Consumption Through India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 245-263.
    3. Upasak Das, 2021. "Rural employment guarantee programme in India and its impact on household educational decisions: A focus on private coaching," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(6), pages 1005-1025, August.
    4. Bhargava, Anil K., 2015. "NREGA's Impact on Agricultural Production, Labor, and Technology Adoption: New Evidence from a Detailed Indian Household-Plot Panel," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205695, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    NREGA; Employment Guarantee; Children's Education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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