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Research ArticleArticles

Workfare and Human Capital Investment

Evidence from India

Manisha Shah and Bryce Millett Steinberg
Journal of Human Resources, March 2021, 56 (2) 380-405; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.56.2.1117-9201R2
Manisha Shah
Manisha Shah is a Professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles and a Faculty Research Associate at the NBER
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  • For correspondence: [email protected]
Bryce Millett Steinberg
Bryce Millett Steinberg is the IJC Assistant Professor of Economics and International and Public Affairs at Brown University and a Faculty Research Fellow at the NBER
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Abstract

We examine the impact of an increase in the demand for low-skill labor caused by a large public works program (NREGS) on schooling outcomes. Exploiting the staged rollout of the program for causal identification, we show exposure to workfare decreases enrollment by 1–3.5 percentage points and increases labor by four percentage points among adolescents, with girls primarily substituting into unpaid domestic work. We also find evidence that children exposed to the program in utero to age four benefit later in life. We conclude that the opportunity cost of schooling is an important determinant of educational investment.

JEL Classification:
  • O12
  • I2
  • I38
  • J1
  • Received November 2017.
  • Accepted June 2019.

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Journal of Human Resources: 56 (2)
Journal of Human Resources
Vol. 56, Issue 2
31 Mar 2021
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Workfare and Human Capital Investment
Manisha Shah, Bryce Millett Steinberg
Journal of Human Resources Mar 2021, 56 (2) 380-405; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.56.2.1117-9201R2

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Workfare and Human Capital Investment
Manisha Shah, Bryce Millett Steinberg
Journal of Human Resources Mar 2021, 56 (2) 380-405; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.56.2.1117-9201R2
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Keywords

  • O12
  • I2
  • I38
  • J1
UWP

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