IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/ecdecc/doi10.1086-691992.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can the Major Public Works Policy Buffer Negative Shocks in Early Childhood? Evidence from Andhra Pradesh, India

Author

Listed:
  • Aparajita Dasgupta

Abstract

The study examines the role of the largest public works program in the world—the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)—in buffering the negative effects of early childhood exposure to rainfall shocks on long-term health outcomes. Exploiting the spatial and temporal variation in NREGS coverage, the study estimates the extent to which nutritional shocks in early childhood can be offset by access to the program. The study employs a unique identification strategy by integrating detailed administrative records of drought shock and phased rollout information of NREGS with household-level panel data—the Young Lives survey—conducted over three waves (2002, 2007, and 2009–10) in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. Using individual fixed effects estimation, the study finds that while the policy does not help correct for long-term past health deficiencies it is useful in buffering recent drought shocks, which vary by policy relevant subgroups.

Suggested Citation

  • Aparajita Dasgupta, 2017. "Can the Major Public Works Policy Buffer Negative Shocks in Early Childhood? Evidence from Andhra Pradesh, India," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(4), pages 767-804.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:ecdecc:doi:10.1086/691992
    DOI: 10.1086/691992
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/691992
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/691992
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/691992?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.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Borga, Liyousew G. & D’Ambrosio, Conchita, 2021. "Social protection and multidimensional poverty: Lessons from Ethiopia, India and Peru," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    2. Sheahan, Megan & Liu, Yanyan & Barrett, Christopher B. & Narayanan, Sudha, 2014. "The political economy of MGNREGS spending in Andhra Pradesh:," IFPRI discussion papers 1371, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Farzana Afridi & Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay & Soham Sahoo, 2016. "Female labor force participation and child education in India: evidence from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-27, December.
    4. Rachel Godfrey†Wood & Benjamin C. R. Flower, 2018. "Does Guaranteed employment promote resilience to climate change? The case of India's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(S1), pages 586-604, March.
    5. Chatterjee, Jagori & Merfeld, Joshua D., 2020. "Protecting Girls from Droughts with Social Safety Nets," IZA Discussion Papers 13694, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Vis Taraz, 2023. "Public works programmes and agricultural risk: Evidence from India," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(2), pages 198-223, April.
    7. Parantap Basu & Kunal Sen, 2015. "Welfare Implications of the Indian Employment Guarantee Programme with a Wage Payment Delay," CEGAP Working Papers 2015_01, Durham University Business School.
    8. Banerjee, Rakesh & Maharaj, Riddhi, 2020. "Heat, infant mortality, and adaptation: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(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. Megan Sheahan & Yanyan Liu & Christopher B Barrett & Sudha Narayanan, 2018. "Preferential Resource Spending under an Employment Guarantee: The Political Economy of MGNREGS in Andhra Pradesh," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(3), pages 551-569.
    11. 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.
    12. Tagat, Anirudh, 2020. "Female matters: Impact of a workfare program on intra-household female decision-making in rural India," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    13. Eskander, Shaikh M.S.U. & Barbier, Edward B., 2022. "Long-term impacts of the 1970 cyclone in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    14. Lahiri, Bidisha & Daramola, Richard, 2023. "Effects of credit and labor constraints on microenterprises and the unintended impact of changes in household endowments: Use of threshold estimation to detect heterogeneity," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 21-38.
    15. Jean-Pierre Tranchant & Patricia Justino & Cath�rine M�ller, 2014. "Political Violence, Drought and Child Malnutrition: Empirical Evidence from Andhra Pradesh, India," HiCN Working Papers 173, Households in Conflict Network.
    16. Kundu, Debadrita & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob, 2022. "Shocks, Social Protection and Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security: Panel Data Evidence from Semi-Arid-Tropics and Eastern India," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322380, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    17. Aurino, Elisabetta & Morrow, Virginia, 2018. "“Food prices were high, and the dal became watery”. Mixed-method evidence on household food insecurity and children’s diets in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 211-224.
    18. Aparajita Dasgupta & Anahita Karandikar, 2021. "Gender-Gap in Learning Outcomes under Rainfall Shocks: The Role of Gender Norms," Working Papers 70, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    19. Lakshmi Iyer & Petia Topalova, 2014. "Poverty and Crime: Evidence from Rainfall and Trade Shocks in India," Harvard Business School Working Papers 14-067, Harvard Business School, revised Aug 2014.

    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:10.1086/691992. 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.