How Competitive Labor Markets and Local Demand Drive Poverty Reduction and Economic Efficiency

General Equilibrium Effects of (Improving) Public Employment Programs: Experimental Evidence From India Public employment programs, like India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), can reduce poverty directly by increasing household income and indirectly through broader economic effects. Researchers studied a reform that improved NREGS implementation and found that it raised beneficiary earnings by 14%, leading…