Bibliography

Abstract

The objective of this note is to look at the challenges PEPs face in tackling the risks of corruption, and highlight innovative ways in which programmes are doing so. Different forms of corruption are defined, high risk areas for corruption in PEPs are outlined, and strategies to address such corruption are explored. These include the use of participatory local processes, high
levels of transparency and access to information, strategies to harness the power of new technology, and empowerment of stakeholders to hold different role players accountable. Monitoring and evaluation systems have a vital role to play, and the mechanisms for investigating allegations of corruption and taking decisive action where required are also vital.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation

Abstract

The design of payments systems is not simply a ‘technical issue’. There are also social and economic dimensions that need to be considered. Without a clear focus on transparency and social accountability mechanisms to ensure that work done is appropriately paid for and that corruption and leakages are minimized, the new systems can also be exploited. Further, the large-scale PEPs also have the potential to serve as a catalyst and as a
platform for scaling-up service delivery and financial inclusion. This would involve identifying how the PEP payment system can potentially be designed in a progressive way.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

The objective of this note is to assist policy-makers and practitioners to create decent jobs for young people, both through targeted approaches and by integrating youth employment dimensions into public employment programmes.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation Youth

Abstract

This paper argues that the direct job-creation strategy adopted by the New Deal administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in programs like the WPA (the “New Deal strategy”) is best understood as an effort to secure what the New Dealers came to regard as a human rights entitlement—the right to work—rather than as an economic policy designed to promote the economy’s recovery from the Great Depression. The paper goes on to argue, though, that in fashioning a policy to secure the right to work, the New Dealers unknowingly developed a strategy for delivering a Keynesian fiscal stimulus that is markedly superior to other anti-recession strategies. Unfortunately, neither the New Dealers themselves nor the generation of progressive policy makers that followed them understood the multiple strengths of the New Deal strategy. Consequently, the strategy was permitted to languish, and its potential contribution to public policy in the post World War II era was lost. In an effort to rekindle interest in the New Deal strategy, the paper concludes by pointing out how much more effective the New Deal strategy would have been in combating the so-called Great Recession than the more conventional spending and tax-cut policies the Federal Government actually has deployed. For a fraction of the sum the Federal Government has allocated to stimulate the American economy since the fall of 2008, the New Deal strategy could have immediately reduced the nation’s unemployment rate to pre-recession levels while simultaneously promoting a more rapid recovery in private-sector hiring.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12114-011-9127-x

Environmental Sustainability North America

Abstract

This book, MGNREGA Sameeksha: An Anthology of Research Studies on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act, 2005, is an analytical anthology of all major research studies done on MGNREGA that were published in academic journals or came out as stand-alone reports. Newspaper and magazine articles, as well as opinion pieces, have not been included in the volume. In compiling the reports we have tried to be as comprehensive as possible. My young colleagues Ms Neelakshi Mann and Mr Varad Pande not only ensured this but also wrote most of the commentary. I am also grateful to Dr Mihir Shah, Dr C. Rammanohar Reddy and Dr Jean Dreze for having made very useful suggestions and critical comments on the manuscript.

At a time when the Ministry of Rural Development is endeavouring to put in place an independent, professionally-run concurrent evaluation network for all rural development programmes, I think this volume will be a useful reference and resource publication and would stimulate further field-level research.

https://www.im4change.org/docs/63503975mgnrega_sameeksha.pdf

Development Environmental Sustainability Gender Health Human Rights India Macroeconomics Quantitative

Abstract

The cost and effectiveness of a basic income guarantee and a job guarantee (combined with conventional transfer payments) are compared with respect to their ability to eliminate poverty and unemployment. It is argued that a BI guarantee provided in the form preferred by most advocates of the idea (a universal basic income grant or equivalent negative income tax) would be both more costly and less effective than a job guarantee—if the latter is properly designed to secure the right to work and income security recognized in in the Universal Declaration of Human Right. It is further argued that the job guarantee strategy configured in this way also would do more to promote the real freedom goals of the basic income advocacy movement.

https://doi.org/10.1515/bis-2013-0006

Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

Responsibility of Government of India to provide funds through an easy and convenient mechanism, In the present funding pattern GOI provides funds to the states to meet full cost of wages and upto 75% of the material cost of work including wages to skilled and semiskilled workers. (subject to material – wage ratio not exceeding 40:60); release of funds is made not to the state but directly to each district. This system involves need for detailed calculations and scrutiny of figures of expenditure on wages, material component and staff. It also entails heavy workload in having to keep district – wise account. This cumbersome procedure compels district officers to make frequent visits to Delhi to chase their proposals for release of funds. The whole process can be greatly simplified by having a new funding pattern in which central government meets full cost of employment wages and in addition funds equal to 50% of wages are given towards all other costs (including material component, staff etc). This simple pattern of funding would dispense the need for getting from states details of expenditure on material, staff etc. or having to calculate the wage-material ratio in REGS works, Also, the release of funds should be to the state and not directly to the district; on-account automatic release of funds to the states will be based on the Utilization Certificate of earlier released funds given by the finance department of the state. GOI will then be concerned with maintaining only state-wise accounts and not nearly 600 accounts for the districts.

https://updatepublishing.com/journal/index.php/imrj/article/view/1574

Implementation India

Abstract

The objective of this note is to expose policy-makers and practitioners to possible opportunities for public employment programmes (PEPs) to create green jobs which comprise work in activities that improve natural resources productivity and are linked to climate change adaptation, environmental conservation and rehabilitation. Some of the challenges and opportunities for promoting these activities are also discussed and examples of projects provided. A number of potentially high impact opportunities are also identified.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Environmental Sustainability Implementation

Abstract

The objective of this note is to give policy-makers and practitioners an overview of the most common approaches and issues related to the implementation of public employment programme (PEP) infrastructure and construction activities. The guidance note also provides some guidance on the selection of suitable projects.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation

Abstract

The objective of this module is to expose policy-makers and practitioners to the opportunities to include work in the social sector within the spectrum of work undertaken in public employment programmes (PEP), to examine the kinds of work being undertaken in the social sector, and the particular policy and practical issues these raise. It will also explore the ways in which PEPs are being used to tackle a range of social challenges as part of wider strategies of social development, and some of the innovations in work undertaken that has arisen from using participatory community involvement in the identification and prioritization of work.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation

Abstract

The objective of this note is to assist policy-makers and practitioners design and implement public employment programmes (PEPs) in urban areas, and, in so doing, address policy choices, complementarities and trade-offs between the goals of job creation, urban development and infrastructure development.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation Urban

Abstract

The paper rejects the conventional view that Keynes had an aggregate demand approach to full employment. Instead, it proposes that he advocated a very specific labor demand targeting approach that would be implemented both in recessions and expansions. Modern policies, which aim to “close the demand gap” between current and potential output are inconsistent with Keynes’s work on theoretical and methodological grounds. There is considerable evidence to suggest that a permanent program for direct or (in his words) “on-the-spot” job creation is the missing Keynes Plan for full employment and economic transformation. The current crisis presents the social economist with a unique opportunity to set fiscal policy straight along the original Keynesian lines. The paper suggests what specific form such a policy might take.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00346764.2011.577348

Macroeconomics

Abstract

The objective of this note is to better understand decent work as promoted by the ILO, and how public employment programmes (PEPs), covering the spectrum of public work programmes (PWPs) and employment guarantee schemes (EGSs), can support, but possibly also undermine decent work. It also discusses how they can be designed to support the realization of the Decent Work Agenda (DWA) and provides some examples of how this has been done in practice.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation

Abstract

https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/node/58129/print

Human Rights Implementation India

Abstract

The objective of this note is to look at the different approaches and theories that can be used for setting wage rates and to help gain an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches and trade-offs involved in setting wages in public employment programmes.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

The Big Society is an integral part of the coalition’s plans for public service retrenchment, but it is premature to dismiss it as exclusively concerned with expenditure cuts and privatisation. The Big Society signals the government’s ambition to transform public services and it is the rubric that is being used to shrink the state and undermine long‐standing systems of public service employment relations. This article considers the origins and meaning of the Big Society and then assesses its consequences for public service provision and the workforce. The Big Society is integrally connected to deficit reduction with the voluntary sector and an increased emphasis on volunteering promoted as a more user‐centred and cost‐effective way of delivering public services in tough times. For the workforce, more competition between diverse providers in conjunction with budget cuts is placing downward pressure on terms and conditions and encouraging employers to question the continuation of national pay determination in many parts of the public sector.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2338.2012.00693.x

Macroeconomics North America

Abstract

The objective of this note is to explore the political economy of PEPs and EGS; how social processes influence the policy scope for PEP/EGS; the different ways in which communities and beneficiaries can participate in the design and implementation of PEP/EGS; and the strengths and risks of such processes.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation

Abstract

This article identifies and explores means of meeting political and strategic challenges to the enactment of a federal job creation program sufficiently large and well-targeted to cope with mass unemployment. The challenges include: anti-government ideology; perceived failure of the Obama stimulus; exaggerated concern over federal deficits; shortcomings of the New Deal model for job creation; limited scope and/or sponsorship of legislative initiatives; and organizing a movement on behalf of the unemployed and large-scale job creation.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12114-011-9110-6

Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

The objective of this note is to provide an overview of different targeting mechanisms and strategies commonly used in public employment programmes (PEPs) as well as expose them to some of the criticisms and challenges of these mechanisms.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

The Job Guarantee (Mosler 1997–1998; Mitchell and Muysken 2008; Wray 1998; hereafter JG) is a policy proposal designed as an alternative to the neoclassical natural rate of unemployment or Nonaccelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU). Whereas that approach presumes that some positive percentage of the total labor force must be sr to avoid accelerating inflation, the JG literature argues instead that a buffer stock of the employed can enaustained as involuntarily unemployed in ordeble true full employment without compromising price stability, with the additional benefit of mitigating the economic and social costs of involuntary unemployment.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2194960

Inflation Macroeconomics Modeling Quantitative

Abstract

Euroland is in a crisis that is slowly but surely spreading from one periphery country to another; it will eventually reach the center. The blame is mostly heaped upon supposedly profligate consumption by Mediterraneans. But that surely cannot apply to Ireland and Iceland. In both cases, these nations adopted the neoliberal attitude toward banks that was pushed by policymakers in Europe and America, with disastrous results. The banks blew up in a speculative fever and then expected their governments to absorb all the losses. The situation was similar in the United States, but in our case the debts were in dollars and our sovereign currency issuer simply spent, lent, and guaranteed 29 trillion dollars’ worth of bad bank decisions. Even in our case it was a huge mistake—but it was “affordable.” Ireland and Iceland were not so lucky, as their bank debts were in “foreign” currencies. By this I mean that even though Irish bank debt was in euros, the Government of Ireland had given up its own currency in favor of what is essentially a foreign currency-the euro, which is issued by the European Central Bank (ECB). Every euro issued in Ireland is ultimately convertible, one to one, to an ECB euro. There is neither the possibility of depreciating the Irish euro nor the possibility of creating ECB euros as necessary to meet demands for clearing. Ireland is in a situation similar to that of Argentina a decade ago, when it adopted a currency board based on the US dollar. And yet the authorities demand more austerity, to further reduce growth rates. As both Ireland and Greece have found out, austerity does not mean reduced budget deficits, because tax revenues fall faster than spending can be cut. Indeed, as I write this, Athens has exploded in riots. Is there an alternative path? In this piece I argue that there is. First, I quickly summarize the financial foibles of Iceland and Ireland. I will then-also quickly-summarize the case for debt relief or default. Then I will present a program of direct job creation that could put Ireland on the path to recovery. Understanding the financial problems and solutions puts the jobs program proposal in the proper perspective: a full implementation of a job guarantee cannot occur within the current financial arrangements. Still, something can be done.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2007283

Europe Macroeconomics

Abstract

Youth employment is of critical concern to almost every country in the world. While the developed world have some strategies to cushion youth against unemployment, the developing and under developed world are struggling with the impact o f youth unemployment. Despite the remarkable economic growth over the last decade, the unemployment rate remains particularly high in the world, especially for youth. Even worse, the youth participation rate in the labour market is very low, (European Commission, 2002). Kenya is a signatory of the World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) held in Copenhagen in 1995 and attended by more than 100 world leaders, flic Government is committed to the goals and targets adopted in the summit. One of these goals is Eradication plan of 1995 – 2015 has been formulated in line with these goals. It provides a national policy and institutional framework against poverty in Kenya. It provides a vision when Kenya hopes to halt and eradicate poverty step by step. Poverty reduction is a national challenge.

http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/6578/KIRATU%20CO...

Africa Development Implementation Youth

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the role of youth empowerment on rural development in Rongo district. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 100 youths, 10 community leaders, and 30 social development workers. The study used structured questionnaires targeting the youths and an interview schedule for the local community leaders to collect data. Descriptive statistics (frequency distributions and mean) were used to analyze and summarize study data while inferential statistics such as chi square were employed to test the relationship between independent and dependent variables. The study established that Jua kali, environmental conservation, HIV/AIDS prevention and financial empowerment through youth trust fund were the main activities practiced under the Kazi Kwa Vijana programme in Rongo district. There existed a significant relationship between participation level of the youth and rural development. There was a further significant relationship between accessibility of the project and rural development. The study also showed that there existed a significant relationship between the length of the programs and rural development in Rongo District. The study recommends that there is need of engaging the private sector in providing employment and training and that priority should be given to sub-projects that can be implemented rapidly using labor intensive techniques. The study also recommends that Rongo district should adopt the best practice operational features of public works program. Together with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Government should endeavor to master the management of the implemented programs and develop a design that allows for flexibility based on demand, with possible scaling-up and scaling-down as necessary. Keyword: Kazi Kwa Vijana Programme(KKVP), Rural Development, Rongo District, HIV/AIDS Prevention, Financial Empowerment, Jua Kali, International Labour Organization(ILO)

https://doi.org/10.35409/ijbmer.2020.3189

Africa Development Implementation Quantitative Youth

Abstract

The present article offers three critiques of the universal basic income guarantee (BIG) proposal discussed by Standing in this volume. First, there is a fundamental tension between the way income in a monetary production economy is generated, the manner in which BIG wishes to redistribute it, and the subsequent negative impact of this redistribution on the process of income generation itself. The BIG policy is dependent for its existence on the very system it wishes to undermine. Second, the macroeconomic effects of BIG on contemporary economies that use modern money are destabilizing. The job guarantee (JG), by contrast, stabilizes both the macro-economy and the currency while helping transform the nature of work itself. Finally, the employment safety-net in Standing’s piece is not an accurate representation of the modern JG proposals – a confusion which this paper aims to remedy.

https://doi.org/10.1515/bis-2013-0010

Macroeconomics

Abstract

This article considers what would happen if unemployed people in South Africa had a right to a minimum level of regular work on decent terms. It looks at the example of India, where a law was passed in 2005 guaranteeing rural households up to 100 days of work a year at minimum wage rates. More than 55 million households now participate in this programme — a rare example of a policy innovation bringing about significant change in a society. India’s employment guarantee has important implications for social and economic policy and gives new meaning to the concept of ‘a right to work’. The article explores how structural inequality limits South Africa’s development options, and considers early lessons from South Africa’s Community Work Programme to make the case for an employment guarantee in South Africa.

https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835x.2012.645650

Africa Human Rights

Abstract

The Employer of Last Resort (ELR) program is a New Deal type of program to provide a government position for anyone seeking work. Unlike private industries who compete over prices and wages, the ELR “industry” is not meant to compete with the private sector; rather it provides public services that are not offered by the private sector. The task here is to estimate the private sector effects of the implementation of the ELR program for the State of Missouri.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0486613412446045

Macroeconomics

Abstract

The objective of this note is to provide policy-makers and practitioners with an overview of various types of public employment programmes1 (PEPs), covering the spectrum from public work programmes to employment guarantee schemes (EGSs) and their characteristics. The note presents some of the key dimensions of these programmes and provides them with guidance on how to analyse them.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

The objective of this note is to expose participants to the training activities most commonly incorporated into public employment programmes (PEPs), in particular the types of training provided to people with different responsibilities within PEPs. This note also discusses how training can play a role in assisting participants to exit the programmes and some of the associated challenges.

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/employment-intensive-investment/publ...

Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

The literature on public employment policies such as the job guarantee (JG) and the employer of last resort (ELR) often emphasizes their macroeconomic stabilization effects. But carefully designed and implemented policies like these can also have profound social transformative effects. In particular, they can help address enduring economic problems such as poverty and gender disparity. To examine how, this paper will look at the reform of Argentina’s Plan Jefes into Plan Familias. Plan Jefes was the hallmark stabilization policy of the Argentine government after the 2001 crisis. It guaranteed a public sector job in a community project to unemployed male and female heads of households. The vast majority of beneficiaries, however, turned out to be poor women. For a number of reasons that are explored below, the program was later reformed into a cash transfer policy, known as Plan Familias, that still exists today. The paper examines this reform in order to evaluate the relative impact of such policies on some of the most vulnerable members of society; namely, poor women. An examination of the Argentine experience based on survey evidence and fieldwork reveals that poor women overwhelmingly want paid work opportunities, and that a policy such as the JG or the ELR cannot only guarantees full employment and macroeconomic stabilization, but it can also serve as an institutional vehicle that begins to transform some of the structures and norms that produce and reproduce gender disparities. These transformative features of public employment policies are elucidated by turning to the capabilities approach developed by Amartya Sen and elaborated by Martha Nussbaum-an approach commonly invoked in the feminist literature. This paper examines how the access to paid employment can enhance what Sen defines as an individual’s “substantive freedom.” Any policy that fosters genuine freedom begins with an understanding of what the targeted population (in this case, poor women) wants. It then devises a strategy that guarantees that such opportunities exist and removes the obstacles to accessing these opportunities.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1998962

Development Gender South America

Abstract

South Africa’s largest active labour market intervention (ALMP) is the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). Its first five-year phase has been completed and a second phase, more ambitious by far than its predecessor, has commenced. Critical analysis suggests that contrary to the hype, the programme has thus far made little lasting impact on the poverty and unemployment it is supposed to address. The analysis is in four parts: the first is an exploration of the background to the EPWP, in its role as South Africa’s largest active labour market policy; the second presents an examination of aspects of the performance of EPWP Phase 1, looking in particular at target vs. actual numbers of job opportunities and training days. This section also looks briefly at the EPWP’s proposed monitoring and evaluation (ME the third considers aspects of the vast increases in the scope of EPWP from Phase 1 to Phase 2, of the way in which these have been communicated, and of the way in which they are to be funded, while fourth the looks at the possible contribution that this second phase could/may make to the goal of halving unemployment by 2014. This part of the paper reproduces a set of scenarios produced by the National Treasury and published in the Budget Review 2010. These point to the extreme unlikelihood of the unemployment halving goal being attained. The paper ends with a set of recommendations, many relating to the production and distribution of knowledge about the EPWP.

https://www.opensaldru.uct.ac.za/handle/11090/59

Africa Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

Projects can be started for commercial purposes or to generate revenues, of sustenance of livelihoods, for eradication of poverty, for humanitarian purposes amongst others. Projects are important for individuals, organizations and economies. This study was necessitated by the fact that the level of performance of the KKV projects at the constituency level was low. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing the performance of the Kazi Kwa Vijana projects with the case Githunguri District. The target population of the study was 543. The population was stratified into four categories namely, line managers, project managers, chiefs and youth. Simple random sampling done to obtain one member from each of these categories. The sample size is 93. The review of related literature included historical perspective of project management, importance of project management, project management cycle, project identification, and preparation of the project and implementation process. From the literature review there was an outcry from all that the KKV projects have not attained their intended objectives .The data was collected using self-administered questionnaires to line managers, project managers, chiefs, and youth. Descriptive statistics and factor analysis was used for quantitative data analysis. This simplified large amount of data for example analysing numerical data through frequency distributions, means, standard deviations, and percentages .Qualitative data was captured through open-ended questions. Themes that relate to the research questions in the study were identified and data was then coded and entered in the computer for analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Scientists (SPSS). The study drew conclusions of a formative nature, on what influence the performance of Kwa Vijana Kazi projects. These determinants include: availability of adequate resources; quality of planning; creativity of project teams; timeliness in implementation; quality of leadership and management; competence of project leaders or managers; the social, political, economic environment in which the project is implemented; relevance of project designs and implementation methodologies; quality of monitoring and evaluation; motivation of project teams and beneficiaries; participation of beneficiaries and stakeholders; and multisectorality of project efforts. The study suggested that the use of projects is becoming more pervasive, with more managers entering the field of project management, the study noted that the success of project practitioners depends on their ability to adopt multiple skills and adapt to complex situations. The study provided recommendations for improving sustainable project management practice, most importantly, the use of systems thinking and approach as an alternative theoretical and paradigmatic foundation for addressing complex economic development project management efforts such KKV

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Factors-Influencing-Performance-...

Africa Development Implementation Quantitative Youth

Abstract

What is the relevance of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), the second largest social protection programme in Africa, for other countries, especially for India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA)? Are there policy lessons to be noted and operational innovations to be learned from? This paper aims at answering these questions by reviewing and analysing the employment and social-protection aspects of PSNP.

https://ipcid.org/sites/default/files/pub/en/IPCWorkingPaper84.pdf

Africa Development Health Human Rights India South America

Abstract

The US economy grew reasonably fast during the last quarter of 2010, and the general expectation is that satisfactory growth will continue in 2011-12. The expansion may, indeed, continue into 2013. But with large deficits in both the government and foreign sectors, satisfactory growth in the medium term cannot be achieved without a major, sustained increase in net export demand. This, of course, cannot happen without either a cut in the domestic absorption of US goods and services or a revaluation of the currencies of the major US trading partners. Our policy message is fairly simple, and one that events over the years have tended to vindicate. Most observers have argued for reductions in government borrowing, but few have pointed out the potential instabilities that could arise from a growth strategy based largely on private borrowing-as the recent financial crisis has shown. With the economy operating at far less than full employment, we think Americans will ultimately have to grit their teeth for some hair-raising deficit figures, but they should take heart in recent data showing record-low “core” CPI inflation—and the potential for export-led growth to begin reducing unemployment.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1785533

Macroeconomics Modeling North America Quantitative

Abstract

The paper builds on the baseline Goodwin (1967) model which describes the reserve army mechanism of capitalist economies. We add to this model segmented labor markets as described in Marx’s Capital, Vol.I. The model exhibits a unique steady state solution which depends on the speeds with which workers are pushed into or out of the labor market segments. We investigate the stability properties of this Goodwin model with segmented labor markets and find that, though there is a stabilizing inflation barrier term in our Phillips curve formulation, interaction with the latent and stagnant portions of the labor market generates potentially destabilizing forces. We then introduce an active labor market policy where government acts as employer-of-last-resort thereby eliminating the stagnant portion of the labor market, whilst erecting a benefit system that sustains the incomes of workers that leave the floating labor market into the latent one. We show that such policies guarantee the macro-stability of the economy’s growth path.

https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/218353

Macroeconomics Modeling Quantitative

Abstract

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is a unique initiative in the history of social security-it is not just an employment scheme but also a potential tool of economic and social change in rural areas. This volume presents the first comprehensive account of the ‘battle for employment guarantee’ in rural India. Staying clear of the propaganda and mud-slinging that has characterized much of the NREGA debate so far, the book presents an informed and authentic picture of the ground realities. The essays are based on field studies of NREGA by a team of researchers who have been actively involved in the campaign for the right to work. They examine a wide-range of issues such as entitlements, corruption, people’s perceptions of NREGA, women’s empowerment, mobilization of unorganized workers, and socio-economic impact of NREGA. They also provide a comparative analysis of the challenges and successes in the implementation of NREGA in different states including Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-battle-for-employment-guar...

Gender Implementation India

Abstract

Public works programs, aimed at building a strong social safety net through redistribution of wealth and generation of meaningful employment, are becoming increasingly popular in developing countries. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), enacted in August 2005, is one such program in India. This paper assesses causal impacts (Intent-to-Treat) of NREGA on public works participation, labor force participation, and real wages of casual workers by exploiting its phased implementation across Indian districts. Using nationally representative data from Indian National Sample Surveys (NSS) and Difference-in-Difference framework, we find that there is a strong gender dimension to the impacts of NREGA: it has a positive impact on the labor force participation and this impact is mainly driven by a much sharper impact on female labor force participation. Similarly, NREGA has a significant positive impact on the wages of female casual workers-real wages of female casual workers increased 8% more in NREGA districts compared with the increase experienced in non-NREGA districts. However, the impact of NREGA on wages of casual male workers has only been marginal (about 1%). Using data from pre-NREGA period, we also perform falsification exercise to demonstrate that the main conclusions are not confounded by pre-existing differential trends between NREGA and non-NREGA districts.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1941959

Gender India Macroeconomics Quantitative

Abstract

This paper examines the development of employment policy in the United Kingdom. Past public-sector direct employment schemes, including those associated with the workfare model, had been discredited as ineffective across the OECD. In numerous countries, however, newer job creation schemes were implemented from the 1990s, aimed at addressing some of the shortcomings of earlier projects, and utilizing the growth of smaller community-based projects – the Intermediate Labour Markets, or ILMs. With the onset of the current economic downturn, and the substantial rise in cyclical unemployment, policy-makers more closely examined options for a demand-led strategy. Although ILMs had not been created with a view to forming part of a comprehensive job guarantee, the potential of these schemes to form part of a wider national strategy was clearly seen. In 2009 the government announced a job guarantee for young people, the Future Jobs Fund. This initiative was inspired at least in part by the work of Hyman Minsky. Although the Future Jobs Fund was scrapped in May 2010, it represents a bold step in active labour market policy. Subsequent analysis of the data related to the Future Jobs Fund indicate that it was a success, achieving its goals even under conservative assumptions.

https://www.postkeynesian.net/working-papers/1106/

Europe

Abstract

This timely book rethinks economic theory and policy by addressing the problem of economic instability and the need to secure broadly shared prosperity. It stresses that advancing economics in the wake of the Great Recession requires an evolutionary standpoint, greater attention to uncertainty and expectations, and the integration of finance into macroeconomics. The result is a broader array of policy options – and challenges – than conventional economics presents.

https://doi.org/10.4337/9780857934840.00014

Inflation Macroeconomics

Abstract

This article proposes the formation of a National Investment Employment Corps to provide a job guarantee for all citizens and to perform the work necessary to maintain and expand the nation’s physical and human infrastructure. The permanent establishment of the National Investment Employment Corps coupled with the federal job guarantee not only would address the employment needs created by the current economic crisis but would yield enduring benefits to national well being. Moreover, it would provide a direct mechanism for producing continuous full employment in the US economy.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12114-010-9075-x

Macroeconomics

Abstract

This chapter consists of five essays on India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Two essays make the case for NREGA as a step towards the right to work, and responds to the critics. The third essay discusses the ground realities of corruption in NREGA, and how it can be prevented. The fourth essay draws attention to problems related to the timely payment of NREGA wages. The concluding essay discusses the productive value of NREGA works and the learning value of the implementation process. The chapter draws on a series of field surveys of NREGA in different Indian states, conducted with student volunteers over the years.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-companion-to-politi...

Human Rights India

Abstract

Using a field survey, this paper examines the empowerment effects of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme on rural women in Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. It argues that women workers have gained from the scheme primarily because of the paid employment opportunity, and benefits have been realised through income-consumption effects, intra-household effects, and the enhancement of choice and capability. Women have also gained to some extent in terms of realisation of equal wages under the nregs, with long-term implications for correcting gender skewness and gender discriminatory wages prevalent in the rural labour market of India. Despite the difficulties and hurdles for women, prospects lie, inter alia, in their collective mobilisation, more so in laggard states.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2010/30/special-articles/empowerment-effect...

Development Gender India

Abstract

The World Bank supported three phases Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) project was first approved in 1996. Malawi, with a population of 13 million, is a low income country with one of the lowest per capita incomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malawi continues to face a variety of social, economic, political and administrative challenges including high inflation, low salaries/pensions of public officials, chronic resource shortages, dearth of public goods and services, unethical individual behavior, and kinship and nepotism. As a result of these factors, corruption remains a major problem in Malawi. In response to these challenges, Malawi has introduced a number of initiatives aimed at promoting good governance and fighting endemic corruption. In May 2004, President Bingu Wa Mutharika, immediately after taking office adopted a zero tolerance stance on corruption. This was subsequently formalized into a declaration on zero tolerance on corruption in February 2007. MASAF projects’ commendable work in identifying governance and accountability risks and integrating mitigation measures into proposed project activities.

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/574943a...

Africa Implementation

Abstract

This paper highlights recent developments and innovations in the deisgn and implementation of public employment programmes, in particular with regards to introducing rights based approaches and balancing the trade-offs between employment creation, social protection and the delivery of assets and services that are inherent in these programmes

https://www.tips.org.za/research-archive/inequality-and-economic-inclu...

Implementation

Abstract

Public works and employment programmes have long been considered a staple of social assistance. For the most part, though, they have been designed as short-term ‘safety nets’. While, in some cases, the focus has also been on reducing poverty or addressing structural unemployment challenges, their implementation has seldom been on a scale that would make a dent in structural poverty. The fact that large scale programmes such as India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), which was initiated prior to the recent economic crisis, could also be effective in responding speedily to and mitigating the effects of the crisis has elicited interest in such policies as a component of inclusive growth paths. In making the case for a longer-term development approach, the paper points out that such an approach would not only allow these programmes to act as shock absorbers without being ‘too little, too late‘ but would also enable the state to strengthen its capacities to provide support to livelihood strategies of the poor through addressing critical public goods and service deficits while creating jobs. In this context, the paper assesses the desirability and feasibility of adopting a universal or a partial Employment Guarantee (EG) to make such programmes a more stable complement to market-driven employment creation in situations where levels of poverty, in particular, working poverty, and underemployment are high. The paper also explores the complementarities and interactions with various social assistance and cash transfer programmes with a view to fostering a more comprehensive approach to social protection for the poor. The paper concludes with a section on implementation issues with a view to strengthening learning on how to plan, design and implement long-term and Employment Guarantee types of public employment programmes.

https://ipcid.org/sites/default/files/pub/en/IPCWorkingPaper66.pdf

Development Human Rights Implementation Macroeconomics

Abstract

Unemployment exacts a high cost to its victims, not only in lost income, but also in terms of quality of life (insecurity, depression, abandoned families, divorce, suicide and poorer health). It also exacts a high cost to society in terms of lost output, foregone tax revenue, depreciating human capital, and increased costs of welfare, crime and health care. Yet modern wealthy societies have, principally for the sake of price stability and to avoid the budget costs of a full remedy, chosen to tolerate a substantial level of permanent unemployment. This article explores the moral conditions of this social choice and its rationality in terms of social welfare. It makes and develops support for two claims: society’s tolerance of involuntary unemployment is morally wrong, and it is socially and economically irrational. It concludes that government should guarantee employment by serving as employer of last resort and where appropriate provide for retraining.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00346760902968405

Macroeconomics

Abstract

Unemployment and other employment-related problems is an on-going challenges faced by many governments and they do not occur only in times of crisis. As observed by the ILO, there was a Jobs Crisis before the financial crisis of 2008-09 and a problem of structural unemployment as a result of jobless growth in many areas of the world with markets unable to create employment at the scale required. Public employment programmes (PEP) such as public works programmes (PWP) and employment guarantee schemes (EGS) are a key tool to protect the most vulnerable against shocks, at the same time developing infrastructure, assets and services that promote social and economic development: whether in response to a crisis, or as part of longer term, counter-cyclical employment policy.

https://www.ilo.org/publications/towards-right-work-innovations-public...

Human Rights Macroeconomics

Abstract

This paper uses a three-round 4,000-household panel from Andhra Pradesh together with administrative data to explore short and medium-term poverty and welfare effects of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Triple difference estimates suggest that participants significantly increase consumption (protein and energy intake) in the short run and accumulate more nonfinancial assets in the medium term. Direct benefits exceed program-related transfers and are most pronounced for scheduled castes and tribes and households supplying casual labor. Asset creation via program-induced land improvements is consistent with a medium-term increase in assets by nonparticipants and increases in wage income in excess of program cost.

https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/docum...

Development India Quantitative

Abstract

Despite the crucial role it plays in facilitating the realization of other economic and social human rights (Harvey 2007), even the wealthiest countries in the world seem unable to secure the right to work. This chapter attempts to identify the source of this failure through a review of the policies American progressives have promoted to secure the right to work since the 1930s. The first portion of this review focuses on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s seminal twelve-year presidency. American progressives developed two distinct strategies for securing the right to work during this period. The first was a social welfare strategy involving the use of direct job creation to provide decent work for those job seekers whom the private sector could not employ at a particular moment in time. The second was a macroeconomic strategy that relied on the use of deficit spending by the federal government to raise aggregate demand enough to achieve full employment. In this chapter, the former strategy shall be referred to as the direct job-creation strategy and the latter as the aggregate demand management (ADM) strategy. Direct job-creation programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) occupied a central role in the mature New Deal of the second half of the 1930s. Moreover, the social welfare thinking that inspired these initiatives also inspired President Roosevelt’s vigorous advocacy during World War II of a broadened conception of human rights. Nevertheless, American progressives lost interest in the direct job-creation strategy as war-related employment – both military and civilian – finally brought the nation’s lingering unemployment crisis to an end in the early 1940s.

https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139235600.007

Human Rights Macroeconomics