The objective of this analysis is mainly to construct an intuitive measure of the performance of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in India -a nation-wide poverty alleviation programme which was introduced in 2005. The focus is on excess demand at the district level. Some...

Despite accelerated growth there is pervasive hunger, child undernutrition and mortality. Our analysis focuses on their determinants. Raising living standards alone will not reduce hunger and undernutrition. Reduction of rural/urban disparities, income inequality, consumer price stabilisation,...

This paper analyses the effects of access to Rural Public Works (RPW) and Public Distribution System (PDS), a public food subsidy programme, on consumption poverty, vulnerability and undernutrition in India drawing upon the large household data sets constructed by National Sample Survey (NSS)...

This study estimates ex ante poverty and vulnerability of households in Bangladesh using Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) data in 2005. Our results show that poverty is not same as vulnerability as a substantial share of those currently above the poverty line is highly vulnerable...

Using official data this paper evaluates India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) according to four criteria a) average number of days of employment per household, b) percentage of households completing 100 days of employment under NREGS, c) percentage of expenditure against...

We test for the existence of a Poverty Nutrition Trap (PNT) in the case of calories and four important micronutrients — carotene, iron, riboflavin, and thiamine- for three categories of wages: sowing, harvesting, and other for male and female workers separately. We use household level national...

This paper tests for the existence of a Poverty Nutrition Trap (PNT) in the case of the nutrient most likely to have productivity impacts, i.e., calories, for three categories of wages – sowing, harvesting, and other – and for male and female workers separately. We use household level...

The present study assesses the benefits of microfinance through self-help groups, based on a specially designed survey in selected villages in Pune district. While the benefits in terms of higher income, consumption, and savings matter for the poor, the focus here is broader, as an attempt is...

Using pooled household level data for the Indian states of Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh we find that the size of landholdings is a negative predictor of participation in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Program (NREGP). In state level analysis this pattern survives in Rajasthan but...