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A Tale of Two Programs: Assessing Treatment and Control in NREGA Studies

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  • Bahal,Girish

Abstract

This paper revisits impact evaluation studies on the largest public workfare in the world, NREGA.In an environment where randomization is not feasible, I show why an impact evaluation exercise on NREGA shouldacknowledge the existence of an older program, SGRY. Using novel district-level expenditure data on SGRY, this articleshows how ignoring the older program is likely to underestimate the general equilibrium impact of theemployment policy on various relevant socio-economic outcomes. In most cases, ignoring SGRY underestimatesNREGA’s impact by 30–40 percent.

Suggested Citation

  • Bahal,Girish, 2021. "A Tale of Two Programs: Assessing Treatment and Control in NREGA Studies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9835, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9835
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Emily Oster, 2019. "Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 187-204, April.
    2. Clément Imbert & John Papp, 2015. "Labor Market Effects of Social Programs: Evidence from India's Employment Guarantee," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 233-263, April.
    3. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Girish Bahal & Anand Shrivastava, 2022. "Fiscal transfers and inflation: evidence from India," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(4), pages 1837-1858, October.
    2. Sudha Narayanan & Karthikeya Naraparaju & Nicolas Gerber, 2023. "An assessment of India's multiple national social protection schemes in improving nutrition and health," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(5), pages 1215-1229, October.
    3. Ohnsorge, Franziska Lieselotte & Rogerson,Richard & Xie, Zoe Leiyu, 2024. "Jobless Development," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10928, The World Bank.

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