Thomas de Hoop
3ie
Abstract:
This paper serves to go beyond the obvious but relatively vague notion that context matters for the effectiveness of development programs. We present quasi-experimental evidence that, on average, self-help group membership does not affect subjective well-being in Orissa, India. Furthermore, we present evidence indicating that self-help group membership has positive impacts on women's autonomy. Our results at the same time reveal that subjective well-being sharply declines for those members whose newly gained autonomy meets with relatively conservative gender norms among non-members. The findings demonstrate that self-help groups have a higher impact if social norms are conducive. We thus demonstrate that the heterogeneity in the impact estimates that is related to context becomes partly predictable by the measurement of social norms. This suggests that we can learn something about external validity from the derivation of heterogeneous impacts in a single setting only.
Date: October 13, 2011
Time: 03:00 P.M.
Venue:
Seminar Room
ISID Complex, Plot No. 4
Vasant Kunj Institutional Area
New Delhi- 110 070(INDIA)
Location:
View ISID Complex in a larger map
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