Labor and Welfare Impacts of a Large-Scale Livelihoods Program : Quasi-Experimental Evidence from India
Improving the livelihoods of poor households and transitioning more women back to the labor force is a major challenge in South Asia. Self-employment promoted through women's groups has often been cited as a promising intervention towards this...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/773231560264458668/Labor-and-Welfare-Impacts-of-a-Large-Scale-Livelihoods-Program-Quasi-Experimental-Evidence-from-India http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31873 |
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okr-10986-318732022-09-20T00:15:10Z Labor and Welfare Impacts of a Large-Scale Livelihoods Program : Quasi-Experimental Evidence from India Pandey, Vivek Gupta, Abhishek Gupta, Shivani FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT SELF-HELP GROUPS RURAL CREDIT MARKET LIVELIHOODS Improving the livelihoods of poor households and transitioning more women back to the labor force is a major challenge in South Asia. Self-employment promoted through women's groups has often been cited as a promising intervention towards this end. However, the evidence on the impact of such programs on household income and labor outcomes is limited, especially for government programs like the National Rural Livelihoods Mission in India. This study aims to provide empirical evidence on the welfare impacts of an "intensive approach" adopted under this program. The data for the study come from 4,316 household surveys in 727 villages. The study uses matching methods with the population and socioeconomic census, as well as an instrumental variable approach to construct a retrospective control group. The analysis finds that the program has been able to achieve its primary objective of improving livelihoods by transitioning more women into work. The program has also expanded access to credit, increased the proportion of savings, and reduced interest rates on credit for rural households. This is the first study to estimate the annual income effects of a government-run rural livelihoods program in India, and it shows significant increases in median income across the sample. The results for 30th, 40th, and 75th percentiles are also large and significant. However, the study did not find significant average treatment effects for income. Contrary to previous studies, this study finds weaker impacts on assets, except for livestock. 2019-06-13T21:15:22Z 2019-06-13T21:15:22Z 2019-06 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/773231560264458668/Labor-and-Welfare-Impacts-of-a-Large-Scale-Livelihoods-Program-Quasi-Experimental-Evidence-from-India http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31873 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8883 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper South Asia India |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT SELF-HELP GROUPS RURAL CREDIT MARKET LIVELIHOODS |
| spellingShingle |
FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT SELF-HELP GROUPS RURAL CREDIT MARKET LIVELIHOODS Pandey, Vivek Gupta, Abhishek Gupta, Shivani Labor and Welfare Impacts of a Large-Scale Livelihoods Program : Quasi-Experimental Evidence from India |
| geographic_facet |
South Asia India |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8883 |
| description |
Improving the livelihoods of poor
households and transitioning more women back to the labor
force is a major challenge in South Asia. Self-employment
promoted through women's groups has often been cited as
a promising intervention towards this end. However, the
evidence on the impact of such programs on household income
and labor outcomes is limited, especially for government
programs like the National Rural Livelihoods Mission in
India. This study aims to provide empirical evidence on the
welfare impacts of an "intensive approach" adopted
under this program. The data for the study come from 4,316
household surveys in 727 villages. The study uses matching
methods with the population and socioeconomic census, as
well as an instrumental variable approach to construct a
retrospective control group. The analysis finds that the
program has been able to achieve its primary objective of
improving livelihoods by transitioning more women into work.
The program has also expanded access to credit, increased
the proportion of savings, and reduced interest rates on
credit for rural households. This is the first study to
estimate the annual income effects of a government-run rural
livelihoods program in India, and it shows significant
increases in median income across the sample. The results
for 30th, 40th, and 75th percentiles are also large and
significant. However, the study did not find significant
average treatment effects for income. Contrary to previous
studies, this study finds weaker impacts on assets, except
for livestock. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Pandey, Vivek Gupta, Abhishek Gupta, Shivani |
| author_facet |
Pandey, Vivek Gupta, Abhishek Gupta, Shivani |
| author_sort |
Pandey, Vivek |
| title |
Labor and Welfare Impacts of a Large-Scale Livelihoods Program : Quasi-Experimental Evidence from India |
| title_short |
Labor and Welfare Impacts of a Large-Scale Livelihoods Program : Quasi-Experimental Evidence from India |
| title_full |
Labor and Welfare Impacts of a Large-Scale Livelihoods Program : Quasi-Experimental Evidence from India |
| title_fullStr |
Labor and Welfare Impacts of a Large-Scale Livelihoods Program : Quasi-Experimental Evidence from India |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Labor and Welfare Impacts of a Large-Scale Livelihoods Program : Quasi-Experimental Evidence from India |
| title_sort |
labor and welfare impacts of a large-scale livelihoods program : quasi-experimental evidence from india |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2019 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/773231560264458668/Labor-and-Welfare-Impacts-of-a-Large-Scale-Livelihoods-Program-Quasi-Experimental-Evidence-from-India http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31873 |
| _version_ |
1764475265451294720 |