Inconsistent Policy Evaluation: A Case Study for a Large Workfare Program / Arthur Alik-Lagrange, Martin Ravallion.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Alik-Lagrange, Arthur.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Ravallion, Martin.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w21041.

NBER working paper series no. w21041

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Inconsistent Policy Evaluation

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2015.

Summary:

Evaluations of workfare programs in poor rural economies have typically ignored two features that policy makers stress: involuntary unemployment and the expected welfare losses from work requirements. The paper generalizes past evaluation theory and methods to incorporate both features, and shows that doing so can switch the policy ranking in favor of welfare over workfare. A case study for India's massive National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme indicates lower impacts on poverty than suggested by past methods, despite a more "poor-poor" incidence. A basic-income guarantee would dominate net workfare earnings in terms of the impact on poverty for a given budgetary outlay.

Notes:

Print version record

March 2015.