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Gendered Transport Subsidy and its Short Run Effect on Female Employment: Evidence from Delhi’s Pink Pass Scheme

Author

Listed:
  • Aparajita Dasgupta

    (Ashoka University)

  • Ashokankur Datta

    (Shiv Nadar University)

Abstract

How does gender-specific transport subsidy for urban women affect their participation in the labour force? To answer this question, we study the Government of Delhi’s pink pass scheme that made bus travel free for women since October 2019. Using the Time Use Survey of 2019 and employing two alternative difference-in-difference (DID) strategies and a triple difference (DDD) approach, we find weak evidence that the policy increased paid work and employment of women at the intensive margin by 30 to 50 minutes. Strikingly, we find that women from economically marginalized households experience large and statistically significant increases in paid work and employment both at the extensive and intensive margins. The pink pass scheme increases employment of women from economically marginalized group by 24 percentage points at the extensive margin and by 150 minutes at the intensive margin. Our study has important insights for policies addressing supply-side bottlenecks in improving female participation in paid work.

Suggested Citation

  • Aparajita Dasgupta & Ashokankur Datta, 2023. "Gendered Transport Subsidy and its Short Run Effect on Female Employment: Evidence from Delhi’s Pink Pass Scheme," Working Papers 105, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ash:wpaper:105
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    File URL: https://dp.ashoka.edu.in/ash/wpaper/paper105_0.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Karthik Muralidharan & Nishith Prakash, 2017. "Cycling to School: Increasing Secondary School Enrollment for Girls in India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 321-350, July.
    2. Ashwini Deshpande & Jitendra Singh, 2021. "Dropping Out, Being Pushed out or Can't Get In? Decoding Declining Labour Force Participation of Indian Women," Working Papers 65, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    3. Deshpande, Ashwini & Singh, Jitendra, 2021. "Dropping Out, Being Pushed Out or Can’t Get in? Decoding Declining Labour Force Participation of Indian Women," IZA Discussion Papers 14639, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Field, Erica & Vyborny, Kate, 2022. "Women’s Mobility and Labor Supply: Experimental Evidence from Pakistan," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 655, Asian Development Bank.
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