Short-Term Morbidity & Employment Guarantee Scheme: Evidence from India

Abstract

Health inequality across various social groups has profound implications for understanding and lessening of socioeconomic inequality. This study is an endeavor in that regard and attempts to investigate the role of Employment Guarantee Schemes (EGS) in influencing health inequality. Using a nationally representative survey data from India and employing Propensity Score Matching, this paper finds that short-term morbidity such as illness, fever and cough were higher for the adults from the households that participated in jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act relative to the statistical control group.