Appraising Workfare

Martin Ravallion

The World Bank Research Observer, 1999, vol. 14, issue 1, 31-48

Abstract: Workfare programs aim to reduce poverty by providing low-wage work to those who need it. They are often turned to in a crisis. This article offers some simple analytical tools that can be used to rapidly appraise the cost-effectiveness of an existing workfare operation as a basis for deciding whether the program should be expanded. For pedagogic purposes, two stylized versions of a range of programs found in practice are analyzed: one for a middle-income country, the other for a low-income country. The cost of a given gain to the poor is about the same for both programs, although the components of that cost are very different, with implications for the timing of benefits. The author points to program design changes that could enhance the impact on poverty. Copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press.

Date: 1999
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (31)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.worldbank.org/research/journals/wbro/obsfeb99/pdf/article2.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:wbrobs:v:14:y:1999:i:1:p:31-48

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The World Bank Research Observer is currently edited by Peter Lanjouw

More articles in The World Bank Research Observer from World Bank Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().