IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jdevst/v32y1996i5p669-694.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How dependent are the rural poor on the employment guarantee scheme in India?

Author

Listed:
  • Raghav Gaiha

Abstract

An analysis of the ICRISAT data for two villages in the Indian state of Maharashtra points to mistargeting of the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS). There was a marked deterioration in it over the period 1979–89, reflected in not just a larger concentration of the more affluent among the EGS participants but also their much larger gains from participating in this scheme. Nevertheless, a large subset of the chronically poor depended heavily on EGS as an additional source of income, with significant welfare gains, during 1979–84. But a large subset — especially of relatively low income participants ‐ also withdrew from EGS when overall economic conditions improved. Besides, EGS earnings varied consistently with economic conditions. Although the present analysis raises some concerns about the mistargeting of EGS and, in this context, about the design and implementation of this scheme, the presumption that such public support makes the poor perpetually dependent on it seems somewhat exaggerated, if not mistaken.

Suggested Citation

  • Raghav Gaiha, 1996. "How dependent are the rural poor on the employment guarantee scheme in India?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(5), pages 669-694.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:32:y:1996:i:5:p:669-694
    DOI: 10.1080/00220389608422435
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00220389608422435
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00220389608422435?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.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin Ravallion & Gaurav Datt, 1995. "Is Targeting Through a Work Requirement Efficient? Some Evidence for Rural India," Monash Economics Working Papers archive-41, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    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. Imai, Katsushi, 2007. "Targeting versus universalism: An evaluation of indirect effects of the Employment Guarantee Scheme in India," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 99-113.
    2. 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.
    3. Raghbendra Jha, 2002. "Rural Poverty in India: Structure, determinants and suggestions for policy reform," ASARC Working Papers 2002-07, The Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre.
    4. Nancy Chau & Ravi Kanbur & Yu Qin, 2014. "Do public work schemes deter or encourage outmigration? Empirical evidence from China," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, December.
    5. Chhachhi, A., 2009. "Democratic citizenship or market based entitlements? : a gender perspective on social protection in South Asia," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18707, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    6. Patricia Justino, 2003. "Two Faces of Participation: The Story of Kerala," PRUS Working Papers 19, Poverty Research Unit at Sussex, University of Sussex.
    7. Patricia Justino, 2007. "Social security in developing countries: MYTH or necessity? Evidence from India," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(3), pages 367-382.
    8. Martin Ravallion, 2003. "Targeted transfers in poor countries : revisiting the trade-offs and policy options," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 27869, The World Bank.
    9. Amita Shah & Aasha Kapur Mehta, 2010. "Experience of the Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme: are there lessons for NREGS?," Working Papers id:2774, eSocialSciences.

    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. Coady, David P. & Grosh, Margaret & Hoddinott, John, 2002. "Targeting outcomes redux," FCND briefs 144, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Rinku Murgai & Martin Ravallion & Dominique van de Walle, 2016. "Is Workfare Cost-effective against Poverty in a Poor Labor-Surplus Economy?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 30(3), pages 413-445.
    3. Amin, Sajeda & Rai, Ashok S. & Topa, Giorgio, 2003. "Does microcredit reach the poor and vulnerable? Evidence from northern Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 59-82, February.
    4. Sami Bibi & Massa Coulibaly & John Cockburn & Luca Tiberti, 2009. "L'impact de la hausse des prix des produits alimentaires sur la pauvreté des enfants et les reponses politiques au Mali," Papers inwopa09/60, Innocenti Working Papers.
    5. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion, 1997. "Macroeconomic Crises and Poverty Monitoring: A Case Study for India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(2), pages 135-152, June.
    6. Coleman, Brett E., 2006. "Microfinance in Northeast Thailand: Who benefits and how much?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1612-1638, September.
    7. World Bank, 2003. "India : Sustaining Reform, Reducing Poverty," World Bank Publications - Reports 14617, The World Bank Group.
    8. Martin Ravallion, 1997. "Famines and Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 1205-1242, September.
    9. Jesko Hentschel & Peter Lanjouw, 2000. "Household welfare measurement and the pricing of basic services," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(1), pages 13-27.
    10. Patrick Premand & Pascale Schnitzer, 2021. "Efficiency, Legitimacy, and Impacts of Targeting Methods: Evidence from an Experiment in Niger," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 35(4), pages 892-920.
    11. Haddad, Lawrence James & Adato, Michelle, 2001. "How effectively do public works programs transfer benefits to the poor?," FCND briefs 108, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    12. Christophe Muller & Sami Bibi, 2006. "Focused Targeting Against Poverty Evidence From Tunisia," Working Papers. Serie AD 2006-01, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    13. Pierre, Gaëlle & Scarpetta, Stefano, 2004. "Employment Regulations through the Eyes of Employers: Do They Matter and How Do Firms Respond to Them?," IZA Discussion Papers 1424, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Jayne, Thomas S. & Strauss, John & Yamano, Takashi & Molla, Daniel, 2002. "Targeting of food aid in rural Ethiopia: chronic need or inertia?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 247-288, August.
    15. Pasquale Scandizzo & Raghav Gaiha & Katsushi Imai, 2009. "Option Values, Switches, and Wages: An Analysis of the Employment Guarantee Scheme in India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 248-263, May.
    16. Krishna, Anirudh, 2007. "For Reducing Poverty Faster: Target Reasons Before People," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 1947-1960, November.
    17. Sami Bibi, 2003. "Does The Specification of A New Class of Poverty Measures Matter? Evidence from Tunisia," Working Papers 0327, Economic Research Forum, revised Sep 2003.
    18. Martin Ravallion, 2011. "A Comparative Perspective on Poverty Reduction in Brazil, China, and India," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 26(1), pages 71-104, February.
    19. Murgai, Rinku & Ravallion, Martin, 2005. "Is a guaranteed living wage a good anti-poverty policy?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3640, The World Bank.
    20. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Makdissi, Paul & Wodon, Quentin, 2005. "Poverty-dominant program reforms: the role of targeting and allocation rules," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 53-73, June.

    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:taf:jdevst:v:32:y:1996:i:5:p:669-694. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/FJDS20 .

    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.