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...

Drawing on the nationally representative "Participation and Expenditure in Education" surveys, we document the incidence and cost of private tutoring at different stages of schooling over the last two decades in India. As private tutoring involve two decisions: a) whether to take private tuition...

India's colonial legacy and linguistic diversity give English an important role in its economy, and this role has expanded due to globalization in recent decades. It is widely believed that there are sizable economic returns to English-language skills in India, but the extent of these returns is...

Using a nationally representative large-scale survey of individual ICT skills in India (Multiple Indicators Survey, 2020), we provide evidence on the effects of ICT skills on labor market outcomes and household welfare as measured by per capita expenditure. We study the effects both at the...

This paper revisits the issue of the intra-household allocation of education expenditure with the recently available India Human Development Survey which refers to 2005 and covers both urban and rural areas. In addition to the traditional Engel method, the paper utilizes a Hurdle model to...