Poverty and employability effects of workfare programs in Argentina

Abstract

Background of INCASI Project H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 GA 691004. WP1: Compilation

In 1993 Argentina began implementing workfare programs, and workfare has become a central public policy starting 2002 when the government increased the number of beneficiaries from 100.000 to 2 milion people in a country of 38 milion. We explore targeting, poverty and employability effects of workfare before 2002 based on the permanent household survey (EPH). We find tha the programm was pro-poor although more than one third of participants did not satisfy the eligibility criteria. Our estimates suggest that the income of participants increased during treatment - particulary for women - indicating beneficial short run poverty effects. However, the long effects of the program are not obvious due to selection on treatment completion. We present evidence suggesting that - for a large fraction of participants - the program generated dependency and did not increase their human capital