Impact of an employment guarantee program on child health and women's reproductive behaviours in rural India

• Author / Creator

  Chakraborty, Samprita

• In this dissertation, I examine the impact of the world's largest employment guarantee program on child health and women's reproductive behaviours in rural India. The program, popularly known as National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) was introduced in India in 2005. I utilize two waves of a nationally representative datasets to perform the analyses. The phase-wise implementation of the NREGS program provides an opportunity to employ the Difference-in-difference estimation strategy to assess the impact of the program on the chosen outcome variables. The following is a summary of each of the essays in my dissertation. Impact of an Employment Guarantee Program on Child Health: Evidence from India As anti-poverty initiatives, many countries, regardless of their financial level, have used and continue to use various employment guarantee programs. It has been established that improved health is critical to overcoming poverty and achieving the larger objective of socioeconomic development. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes (NREGS), enacted in 2005 in India, is one of the world's largest employment guarantee programs aimed at alleviating poverty. This research examines the impact of this employment guarantee scheme on infant and child mortality in India. The program's phased implementation allows for the use of a difference-in-difference technique to determine the influence of this program on the outcomes. The study was conducted using two waves of nationally representative District Level Household and Facility Survey data. For the districts that were subjected to NREGS, the infant mortality rate increased by 1.2 infants per 1000 live births. The poor and disadvantaged households, who were targeted by NREGS, experienced a greater detrimental impact (infant mortality increased by 1.71 and 4.12 per 1000 live births, respectively). Further analysis suggests that the indirect effect of women substituting time away from time-intensive activities and detrimental health effects are the two channels through which NREGS has led to an increase in infant mortality. Impact of an Employment Guarantee Program on the Reproductive Behaviours of Women in Rural India: Developing countries frequently implement a variety of family planning policies aimed at reducing the overall fertility level. Researchers often raise concern that supply-side interventions to reduce fertility may not have the desired effect if demand for fertility remains high. Although the studies are primarily based on developed countries, researchers indicate that increasing female work opportunities is a critical measure that can lower the demand for fertility. This study investigates if such an effect can be observed following the implementation of the world's largest employment guarantee program, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes (NREGS), which had a specific goal to increase women's employment in rural India. Two waves of nationally representative District Level Household and Facility Survey data were utilized in the study. NREGS had a differential impact on the reproductive behaviours of women, depending on their household type. Women from marginalized caste households showed a preference for increased fertility after NREGS implementation. Further analysis suggests that women from marginalized caste households experience a strong quantity income effect of NREGS, resulting in a preference for higher fertility. On the other hand, women from comparatively poorer households and younger women showed a preference for lower fertility; the point estimate showed 0.27 to 0.3 fewer children being born. NREGS has a strong time substitution effect on women from poorer households. While a significant quality income effect was observed for the younger women. Both result in a decrease in fertility outcomes. This study also highlights the significance of expected future employment and the community effect as factors that influence reproductive behaviours, and thereby the fertility levels of women in rural India.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Employment guarantee program
  • Child health
  • Fertility

• Graduation date

  Fall 2022

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-v21m-7b19

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Library with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.