Using National Sample Survey data for rural India we examine the incidence of capture in two workfare programs in rural India: the Rural Public Works and the Food for Work Programs for 1993-94 and 2004-05 respectively. We discover a high degree of program capture among the general population. Among the traditionally backward groups in Indian rural society -- but with considerable variation in their living standards — there appears to be a higher degree of capture among SC than among ST. Targeting among SC worsened over time. There was an increase in capture by the fourth quintile (of household per capita expenditure) of SC, ST and landowners. This may be reflective of a varying degree of collusion between the elite and the program implementing agencies (e.g., village councils) over time. Thus potential benefits of workfare get undermined. We also provide evidence to suggest that income based targeting could outperform social group based targeting.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre in its series ASARC Working Papers with number
2009-16.
Find related papers by JEL classification: H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs O12 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development