Search

The impact of public programs involving legal protection may depend on the duration of exposure, especially in developing countries with persistent social norms. A longer duration of the program is likely to be associated with gradual positive changes in these norms that beneficiaries could leverage in their favor. However, program effects might also decay if the norms do not change with time, even several years after the legal reforms. This paper examines the heterogeneous impact of the duration of exposure to gender‐neutral reforms in the inheritance law in India on women empowerment. We use the time lag between the year of the amendment in the respective states and the year of marriage to generate exogenous variation in reform exposure among women. The findings indicate a significant non‐linear increase in empowerment because of higher exposure. The gains are more pronounced for instrumental empowerment that relates to the ability to make decisions and to a lesser extent, albeit positively for intrinsic, which pertains to expansion of agency. The impact remains significant across women from rural/urban sector or social groups. At a more disaggregated level, greater exposure led to higher mobility, higher household decision‐making ability, reduced husband controlling behavior, and lesser emotional violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature has established that a diverse workforce is more creative and productive, with academia being no exception. Research on gender diversity in academia, especially economics academia so far has focused on the developed world. This article examines gender diversity in economics academia in India by analyzing the share of women in faculty positions, journal publications, and participation in a conference held annually since 2004. Unlike some developed countries, women students actually constitute the majority at the Master's level in India. Yet, evidence suggests that women's presence in economics academia is less than one-third in all three dimensions. Through interviews and further data analysis, the study explores factors that impinge on women's presence in economics academia. It concludes with specific suggestions on what Indian institutions can do to ensure that women not only join and survive, but also thrive in academia. HIGHLIGHTS In India, only one-third of faculty, conference participants, and published researchers in economics are women. The drop in the representation of women occurs mainly at the doctoral and faculty levels. Norms around marriage age and desire for financial freedom affect women's pursuit of doctoral programs. Biases in recruitment and the "two-body" problem impact women's presence in faculty positions. Indian institutions must invest in faculty mentoring, promotion transparency, and childcare availability to foster academic success of students and faculty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the impact of an information dissemination intervention on the local-level implementation of the rural public works program in India. One key feature of the intervention is to provide information to workers once their wages get credited into their accounts. Using administrative and survey data, its impact on delays in wage payments and days of work along with the awareness levels of the entitlements is evaluated. The findings indicate a substantial reduction in payment delays and in trips made for wage withdrawal, in addition to improvements in awareness. The decrease in the payment delays in the treated villages persists even beyond the intervention period. While a limited impact on work days is observed during the intervention, a significant increase in the post-intervention period is found. The findings substantiated through qualitative evidence provide a platform for an innovative and cost-effective intervention to improve the implementation of social protection programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to improved toilets can enhance physical and mental security among women. Therefore, it becomes critical to incorporate and understand their decisions on household toilet construction. Using survey data from 2528 households across urban slums, peri-urban and rural areas from the state of Bihar in India, we study two particularly relevant aspects surrounding women's decision making in sanitation. First, we examine if exclusive usage of toilets is systematically higher when the decision of its construction is taken solely by a woman. Secondly, we assess the potential household-level factors associated with women-led decision making. The findings, after accounting for the unobserved heterogeneity surrounding the selection of households with toilets, indicate a statistically insignificant increase in the likelihood of its exclusive usage in households where decision of its construction had been solely led by women. When we look at the settlement types individually, this relationship is found to be significant in the peri-urban areas. Additionally, among households with toilets, poorer women are more likely to take sole decisions about its construction. This, we argue is potentially because of sanitation interventions over the years that have been relatively successful in motivating poor women to influence toilet construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the incidence of COVID-19 and the associated fatality with altitude using high frequency, district level data from India. To understand the implications of the nationwide lockdown after the outbreak, we use data for about four months- two from the lockdown period starting from March 25 till May 31, 2020 and about two months after unlocking was initiated (June 1-July 26, 2020). The multivariate regression result indicates slower growth in average rate of infection during the lockdown period in hilly regions, the gains of which attenuated after the unlocking was initiated. Despite these early gains, the rate of fatalities is significantly higher during the lockdown period in comparison to the plains. The findings remain robust to multiple alternative specifications and methods including one that accounts for confounding possibilities via unobservable and provides consistent estimates of bias adjusted treatment effects. The evidence supports the need for provisioning of public health services and infrastructure upgradation, especially maintenance of adequate stock of life support devices, in high altitude regions. It also underscores the necessity for strengthening and revising the existing Hill Areas Development Programme and integrating important aspects of public health as part of this policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In low- and middle-income countries, poor autonomy prevents women from making financial decisions, which may impact their access to improved sanitation facilities. Inadequate access to improved sanitation disproportionately affects women's and children's health and wellbeing. Although socio-cultural factors are known contributors to gender inequity, social beliefs that potentially motivate or dissuade women from making sanitation-related household decisions are not well understood. These beliefs may vary across settlement types. To empower more women to make sanitation-related decisions, the relevant socio-cultural norms and underlying social beliefs need to be addressed. In this mixed methods study, we explored women's role in sanitation-related decision making in three settlement types, urban slums, peri-urban, and rural communities in Bihar. Trained qualitative researchers conducted six focus group discussions with women of two age groups: 18–30 years old, and 45–65 years old to understand the norm-focused factors around women's role in getting a toilet for their household. Using insights generated from these group discussions, we developed and conducted a theory-driven survey in 2528 randomly selected participants, to assess the social beliefs regarding women making toilet construction decisions in these communities. Overall, 45% of the respondents reported making joint decisions to build toilets that involved both men and women household members. More women exclusively led this decision-making process in peri-urban (26%) and rural areas (35%) compared to urban slums (12%). Social beliefs that men commonly led household decisions to build toilets were negatively associated with women's participation in decision making in urban slums (adjusted prevalence ratio, aPR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.42, 0.68). Qualitative insights highlighted normative expectations to take joint decisions with elders, especially in joint family settings. Surrounding norms that limited women's physical mobility and access to peers undermined their confidence in making large financial decisions involved in toilet construction. Women were more likely to be involved in sanitation decisions in peri-urban and rural contexts. Women's involvement in such decisions was perceived as widely acceptable. This highlights the opportunity to increase women's participation in sanitation decision making, particularly in urban contexts. As more women get involved in decisions to build toilets, highlighting this norm may encourage gender-equitable engagement in sanitation-related decisions in low-resource settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The patriarchal kinship system in India considers sons as harbingers of prosperity and daughters as liabilities who require significant outlay of resources through their lifetimes. This social system assigns a higher value to sons and perpetuates discrimination in various forms. In this paper, instead of focusing on inferior outcomes for daughters, we provide empirical evidence of disproportionate penalties placed on long-term health outcomes of their parents. Using nationally representative data on health expenditure and outcomes for 2014, we find that a higher number of daughters are associated with increased probabilities of chronic ailment and self-reported poor health among the elderly. The effects are significantly weaker for scheduled tribes, a social group with relatively egalitarian gender norms. Also, these effects are stronger for higher quintiles of standardised number of daughters. Our findings remain robust to a variety of internal validity tests. In particular, we use a recent method that accounts for omitted variable bias to arrive at consistent estimates of bias adjusted treatment effects. Improved access to education and employment for daughters, adequate social protection and milestone-based conditional cash transfers are some ways to ameliorate this bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social sanctions can be effective for sustaining beneficial norms by harnessing the power of social pressure and peer monitoring. Yet, field evidence regarding how norms might be linked to perceived risk of sanction is limited. In this study, we focused on communities located in peri-urban areas of Tamil Nadu, India, and examined how people's perceived prevalence of a socially desirable behavior (i.e., toilet use) relates to the perceived risk of sanctions for deviating from this behavior (i.e., open defecation) in the sanitation domain. Cross-sectional data from 2427 participants in 75 communities revealed that the majority (77%, n = 1861) perceived the risk of informal sanctions related to open defecation. Among those, verbal reprimand was the most common (60%), followed by advice (30%) and gossip (7%). Results from multilevel logistic regression indicated that those who believed toilet use was prevalent in their community were more likely to perceive the risk of social sanctions for open defecation. Moderation analysis revealed that this relationship was robust among women, but attenuated among men. Our findings suggest that women are more likely to expect social sanctions if they deviate from what is perceived as the prevalent sanitation behavior (e.g., toilet use) in their community. Open defecation practices are known to cause psychosocial stress among women due to their experiences with sanitation insecurity, which may include fear of disapproval from community members. Our results highlight the need for gendered intervention strategies when sanitation programs leverage social influence for behavior change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People often form perceptions about how prevalent a behavior is in a social group. However, these perceptions can be inaccurate and biased. While persistent undesirable practices in low-income countries have drawn global attention, evidence regarding people's perception of how prevalent these practices are is scarce. Among those harmful practices, open defecation in India remains a significant public health concern, where it perpetuates the vicious cycle of disease and poverty. In this study, we focus on measuring the perceived prevalence of open defecation among respondents in Bihar, India. We examined the bias in perceived prevalence, which is defined as a pattern of deviation from the actual prevalence of open defecation. Results showed that respondents who defecate in the open overestimate the prevalence of open defecation, whereas those who consistently use toilets underestimate it. This finding suggests a false consensus bias in the perceived prevalence of open defecation. Scholars, policymakers, and program implementers who seek to correct misperceptions about open defecation by broadcasting real prevalence should be aware of biases in the perceived prevalence and address them in behavior change interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though education is essentially an individual attribute, its positive externality goes beyond the individual to household conditioned by its gendered and generational features. Further, distributional aspects of education levels among the household members are also important in terms of its effects on its welfare outcomes. Hence, education of the head or highest educational level within the household may not adequately represent the household educational levels. In this context, we construct a household educational index that combines three aspects: distribution of education among household members, highest education level among the male and female members and difference in highest education level attained between generations. The generalised final index is found to satisfy all the axioms or the intuitive properties: monotonicity, anonymity, normalisation and uniformity. Additionally, we examine the values of the proposed indicators against the commonly used indicators including education of the household head and the highest education within the household using a representative survey from India. The empirical results indicate considerable difference between the proposed indicator and these common indicators. We also observe a strong association between our proposed indicator and welfare indicators like learning outcomes among children and having a toilet in the household. This implies usage of common indicators may underestimate the significance of education in terms of its bearing on welfare outcomes. These findings lay emphasis on the significance of conceptualizing a household educational indicator that accommodates the complexities of welfare externalities of individual educational levels within the household. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We analyze the distributive politics of India's rural employment guarantee program. • We use constituency level data on state elections and program implementation 2009–16. • We find no difference in job allocation between core and marginal constituencies. • We find higher material expenditure in core constituencies of the ruling party. • Opaque electoral funding and power of special interest groups explain the results. Abstract This article analyzes the distributive politics of India's (and the world's) largest workfare program, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. We use a unique dataset that includes census and MGNREGA implementation data at the single-constituency level for the state of Andhra Pradesh (2009–17) across an entire election cycle (2009–14). Using regression analysis, we find that the ruling party does not use the program to buy votes neither in swing, nor in core areas of support, as we find the distribution of jobs to be 'post-clientelistic'. We explain this result – surprising in a 'patronage democracy' – with the lobbying power of big farmers, an important special interest group in India's political economy. Our analysis also shows that the ruling party's distributive strategy consists of compressing job generation in core constituencies, in order to expand expenditure on materials needed for the execution of the projects. In this way, the ruling party can channel resources to contractors, who fund the electoral campaign of the party in return as our qualitative evidence suggests. The article reinforces arguments that predict that political parties will target core areas of support and develops a bi-dimensional model of clientelism that highlights the role of contractors and opaque electoral rules in determining distributive strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One major success indicator of any welfare programme is accuracy of targeting of the benefits to the intended population. Using data from 2009–2010 and 2011–2012, this paper assesses targeting in terms of participation of the poorer households in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in the Indian state of West Bengal and compares it with rest of the country. Although implementation of the programme in the state has been poor, the targeting performance is found to be fair in comparison to other parts. The findings lay emphasis on improvement in other dimensions of the programme to realise the optimal benefits. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This study investigates the consequences of poor implementation in public workfare programs, focusing on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in India. Using nationally representative data, we test empirically for a discouraged worker effect arising from either of two mechanisms: administrative rationing of jobs among those who seek work and delays in wage payments. We find strong evidence at the household and district levels that administrative rationing discourages subsequent demand for work. Delayed wage payments seem to matter significantly during rainfall shocks. We find further that rationing is strongly associated with indicators of implementation ability such as staff capacity. Politics appears to play only a limited role. The findings suggest that assessments of the relevance of public programs over their lifecycle need to factor in implementation quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Evidence on CCT programs is positive about enrollment but mixed on learning skills. • We examine the impact of Kanyashree Prakalpya implemented in West Bengal, India. • The program effect on female school enrollment and learning outcomes is assessed. • Significant gain in enrollment but a decline in learning outcomes is observed. • Lower classroom availability and higher teacher absenteeism are potential reasons. Studies on Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs have documented positive effects on school enrollment though evidence on learning outcomes is mixed. Using representative data, we evaluate one of the largest CCT programs, Kanyashree Prakalpa (KP), which was implemented in the state of West Bengal, India, in 2013. In particular, we examine the effect on female school enrollment and learning outcomes. Exploiting the timing of the program implementation for identification and applying difference-in-difference regressions, we document a positive effect on enrollment with no discernible impact on secondary and higher secondary school completion. We also observe significant improvements in lower-level learning outcomes but a marked deterioration in higher-level skills like solving simple division problems. Complementary investments like classroom availability and teacher attendance appear to have fallen after the implementation of KP, which explains the decline in learning skills despite higher schooling exposure, thereby underscoring the need for supply-side interventions in school amenities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationing and its implication on accuracy of targeting of benefits to the intended beneficiaries in an anti-poverty programme is an essential component of its evaluation. Taking nationally representative data for 2009–2010 and 2011–2012, this paper evaluates the performance of the Rural Employment Guarantee Act in India in terms of targeting of benefits to the poorer households. It attempts to find if households, which did not get work after demanding are poorer than the ones, who got work and then explores, if the non-poor households got work for higher number of days under the programme in comparison to the poorer ones. Findings from the regressions, which control for the potential sample selection bias show that the poorer households in terms of monthly consumption expenditure have lesser probability of getting work in both the years, though traces of improvement in targeting is observed in 2011–2012. Poorer households are also found to be significantly associated with lower days of work in 2009–2010 compared to the relatively better-off ones. The results lay emphasis on the need to reduce rationing and generate awareness on the basic entitlements of the programme along with higher accountability and vigilance for better targeting. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using survey data from the Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, the paper documents the impact of the rural employment guarantee scheme in reducing rural out-migration. Using regression framework and case studies, it finds no significant impact of household participation in the programme on migration decision. However, extent of participation in terms of number of days of work and earnings has a significant negative impact on short-term migration but not on longer duration ones. The findings lay emphasis on effective implementation in terms of asset creation, reduction in rationing of works and tackling delayed payments to enjoy its potential benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Summary The paper investigates prevalence of political clientelism in allocation of benefits under the rural employment guarantee program, currently implemented in India. Using survey data collected from some villages of West Bengal, it is found that households, which are politically active and supporters of the local ruling political party, are more likely to receive the benefits in terms of participation, number of days of work and earnings from the program. Qualitative evidence corroborates the findings. The study shows predominance of political favoritism under the program and lays emphasis on reducing rationing and enhancing awareness of the entitlements to curb this practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Population is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Using data from nationally representative employment and unemployment surveys, this article examines the inclusiveness of Indian economic growth by looking at the changes in socio-economic inequalities in regular employment over the period 1993-1994 to 2009-2010. Our findings reveal that, at the all India level, socio-economic inequalities in regular employment increased minutely during 1993-1994 to 2009-2010. However, the changes at the regional level are mixed. Regions of the North, Central and East show a decrease against an increase in Western and North Eastern regions. In the Southern region, the socio-economic inequalities in regular employment have remained almost same.A partir de données issues d'enquêtes représentatives à l'échelle nationale sur l'emploi et le chômage, cet article cherche à évaluer dans quelle mesure la croissance économique de l'Inde est inclusive en examinant l'évolution des inégalités socio-économiques dans l'accès à l'emploi régulier pendant la période 1993-1994 à 2009-2010. Nos résultats montrent que, au niveau national, les inégalités socio-économiques dans l'accès à l'emploi régulier ont très peu évolué au cours de la période en question. Cependant, la situation varie d'une région à l'autre. On constate en effet une réduction des inégalités dans les régions du nord, du centre et de l'est alors qu'elles ont augmenté dans les régions de l'ouest et du nord-est. Dans la région du sud, les inégalités socio-économiques dans l'accès à l'emploi régulier n'ont quasiment pas évolué. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor access to toilets has significant impacts on hygiene, health, safety, and well-being. Women in resource-poor areas may not use public toilets because of concerns about personal safety and the disapproval of others. This study examines social beliefs about women's use of public toilets in India, using data from 5,052 households in rural, semi-urban, and urban slum areas of Bihar and Tamil Nadu in 2018. We asked respondents about their beliefs regarding the prevalence of young women aged 16 to 30 years using public toilets alone and whether this behavior was approved of in their community. We also asked about their personal beliefs on this issue. We used hypothetical vignettes to assess perceptions of a young woman's behavior in different settings regarding public toilet usage by women. Our results show that people who believe many women in their community use public toilets alone and approve of it are more likely to have positive beliefs about this behavior. The experimental vignettes suggest a potential causal link between the prevalence and approval of public toilet usage among young women and their likelihood of using it. These findings are consistent across Bihar and Tamil Nadu and the three administrative regions, indicating that interventions aimed at changing social expectations about women's use of public toilets should focus on highlighting community members' usage and approval. Efforts to encourage woman's access to public toilets and services should target shifting beliefs about public toilet usage among women without disapproval from others.

In this paper, using survey data from 1251 respondents from peri-urban parts in the Bhopal district of India, we estimated the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for hypothetical Covid-19 vaccines. We use open-ended questions along with the discrete choice contingent valuation method for two vaccines, one with full efficacy and the other with 70% efficacy. While no major evidence of vaccine hesitancy was observed, we found a WTP of about Rs. 141 ($1.9) for the former type vaccine and about Rs. 116 ($1.6) for the latter. From the contingent valuation method, we found about 71.9% were not willing to spend Rs. 200 ($2.7) or more for the fully effective vaccine, while this figure goes up to 77.8% for the one with 70% efficacy. Estimations from linear and probit regressions suggest that economic indicators were the most important predictors of WTP. Usage of public transport, the number of days that the respondent stepped out for work, and the presence of comorbid individuals in the household were positively associated with the WTP, while pandemic-induced income reduction was negatively correlated. The findings lend support toward the requirement of highly subsidized vaccines, and hence back the recent policy announcement toward the supply of free vaccines to all states.

In countries without adequate access to improved sanitation, government-imposed restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic can impact toilet usage. In India, where millions have recently transitioned to using a toilet, pandemic-related barriers to use might increase open defecation practices. We assessed changes in reported defecation practices in peri-urban communities in Tamil Nadu. Field assistants conducted phone surveys in 26 communities in two districts from May 20, 2020 to May 25, 2020. They asked respondents about their access to a toilet, whether they or a family member left their house to defecate in the past week, and whether specific practices had changed since the lockdown. Among 2,044 respondents, 60% had access to a private toilet, 11% to a public or community toilet, whereas 29% lacked access to any toilet facility. In our study, 92% of the respondents did not change their defecation behaviors in the 2 months following the pandemic-related lockdown. About a third (27%) reported that they or a family member left their house daily to defecate amid lockdown measures. A majority of those with private toilets (91%) or with public toilets (69%) continued using them. Respondents with private toilet access were more likely to report an increased frequency of handwashing with soap (prevalence ratio [PR]: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.04-3.05) since the lockdown. The lack of private toilets contributes to the need to leave the house amid a lockdown. Maintaining shared toilets require disinfection protocols and behavioral precautions to limit the risk of fomite transmission. Robust urban COVID-19 control strategies should include enhanced sanitation facility management and safe usage messaging.

The health and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to disproportionately impact residents of lower-middle income countries. Understanding the psychological impact of the pandemic is important to guide outreach interventions. In this study, we examined people's awareness of COVID-19 symptoms, risk perception, and changes in behaviors and stress levels during the lockdown in peri-urban Tamil Nadu India. Field workers conducted phone call surveys (included n = 2044) in 26 communities from 20-25 May 2020. The majority perceived no (60%) or low (23%) level of risk of personally contracting coronavirus. Common fears were related to health and economic concerns, including loss of income (62%), inability to travel freely (46%), and becoming sick (46%). Residents were well aware of the common symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever (66%) and dry cough (57%), but not the asymptomatic transmission (24%). The majority experienced increased stress about finance (79%) and the lockdown (51%). Our findings emphasize the need to develop context-adequate education and communication programs to raise vigilance about asymptomatic transmission and to sustain preventative behaviors. The evidence on fear and changes in stress levels could inform designing coping strategies and programs focused on mental well-being.