Deficient Public Infrastructure and Private Costs: Evidence from a Time-Use Survey for the Water Sector in India

Levy Economics Institute Working Paper No. 536

16 Pages Posted: 8 Jul 2008

See all articles by Lekha Chakraborty

Lekha Chakraborty

Bard College - The Levy Economics Institute; National Institute of Public Finance and Policy

Date Written: July 8, 2008

Abstract

This paper presents new evidence on the links between public-infrastructure provisioning and time allocation related to the water sector in India. An analysis of time-use data reveals that worsening public infrastructure affects market work, with evident gender differentials. The results also suggest that access to public infrastructure can lead to substitution effects in time allocation between unpaid work and market work. The broad conclusion of the paper is that public-investment policy can redress intrahousehold inequalities, in terms of labor-supply decisions, by supporting initiatives that reduce the allocation of time in nonmarket work.

Keywords: Time Use, Public Infrastructure, Private Costs, Water Budgets

JEL Classification: J22, H54

Suggested Citation

Chakraborty, Lekha S., Deficient Public Infrastructure and Private Costs: Evidence from a Time-Use Survey for the Water Sector in India (July 8, 2008). Levy Economics Institute Working Paper No. 536, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1156900 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1156900

Lekha S. Chakraborty (Contact Author)

Bard College - The Levy Economics Institute ( email )

New York

National Institute of Public Finance and Policy ( email )

New Delhi
India

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
98
Abstract Views
681
Rank
424,610
PlumX Metrics