Aggregate Effects from Public Works: Evidence from India

Justin Cook () and Manisha Shah ()

No 13710, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper explores the aggregate economic effects from India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), which provides up to 100 days of labor to rural laborers at the mandated minimum wage. We examine the within-district change to night-time lights and banking deposits using the staggered program rollout for identification. We find consistent and robust evidence that NREGS increased aggregate economic output by 1-2% per capita measured by night-time lights. This effect, however, is not equal across districts. We observe no positive effect of the program in poorer districts, illuminating an important source of heterogeneity.

Keywords: aggregate output; NREGS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O11 O38 O47 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2020-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published - published in: Review of Economics and Statistics, 2022, 104 (4), 797 - 806

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Related works:
Journal Article: Aggregate Effects from Public Works: Evidence from India (2022)
Working Paper: Aggregate Effects from Public Works: Evidence from India (2020)
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