Inconsistent Policy Evaluation: A Case Study for a Large Workfare Program

45 Pages Posted: 23 Mar 2015 Last revised: 30 Jun 2023

See all articles by Arthur Alik-Lagrange

Arthur Alik-Lagrange

University of Toulouse 1 - Toulouse School of Economics (TSE)

Martin Ravallion

Georgetown University

Date Written: March 2015

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

Alik-Lagrange, Arthur and Ravallion, Martin, Inconsistent Policy Evaluation: A Case Study for a Large Workfare Program (March 2015). NBER Working Paper No. w21041, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2583609

Arthur Alik-Lagrange (Contact Author)

University of Toulouse 1 - Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) ( email )

Place Anatole-France
Toulouse Cedex, F-31042
France

Martin Ravallion

Georgetown University ( email )

Washington, DC 20057
United States

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