PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Manisha Shah
AU  - Bryce Millett Steinberg
TI  - Workfare and Human Capital Investment
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.56.2.1117-9201R2
DP  - 2021 Mar 31
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 380--405
VI  - 56
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/56/2/380.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/56/2/380.full
SO  - J Hum Resour2021 Mar 31; 56
AB  - 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.