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    Are Large-scale Poverty Alleviation Programmes Implemented with Electoral Goals in Mind? A Study of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in India

    Cover for Are Large-scale Poverty Alleviation Programmes Implemented with Electoral Goals in Mind? A Study of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in India
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    View/Open: Chowdhury_georgetown_0076M_12557.pdf (1.1MB)

    Creator
    Chowdhury, Anirvan
    Advisor
    de Brauw, Alan
    Abstract
    Impact evaluations of poverty alleviation programmes often do not take into account political placement and implementation effort while estimating effectiveness. This can give rise to biased estimates if politicians make policy decisions regarding implementation with electoral returns in mind. Using a novel dataset, I examine the effect of electoral competitiveness on the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in India. Results from cross-sectional regressions indicate that expenditure on the programme as a proportion of available funds was higher by 0.185 to 0.195 percentage points for an additional percentage point decline in vote share to the Indian National Congress (INC), the main driver of the NREGS. This is partially consistent with the idea of electoral opportunism and Downsian competition where other political parties who may have leveraged the programme better than the INC. Using methods proposed by Altonji, Elder and Taber (2000) and Oster (2013), I conclude it unlikely that unobservables can explain away this result.
    Description
    M.P.P.
    Permanent Link
    http://hdl.handle.net/10822/709926
    Date Published
    2014
    Subject
    employment guarantee; NREGS; political competition; programme implementation; safety net; Political Science; Economics; Public policy; Political Science; Economics; Public policy;
    Type
    thesis
    Publisher
    Georgetown University
    Extent
    63 leaves
    Collections
    • Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Public Policy
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    Georgetown University Seal
    ©2009 - 2022 Georgetown University Library
    37th & O Streets NW
    Washington DC 20057-1174
    202.687.7385
    digitalscholarship@georgetown.edu
    Accessibility