Do Public Works Programs Have an Impact? Evidence from Rwanda Available to Purchase

Public works (PW) programs have become increasingly popular in Africa and elsewhere. They are seen as contributing to the social safety net in rural areas, and as a way to help households build assets. The authors seek to measure the impact of Rwanda’s Vision 2020 Umurenge (VUP) PW program, using data from the 2016/2017 Integrated Household Survey. All four matching models showed no measurable effect of the program on poverty and consumption, although there were modest positive effects on livestock accumulation and on financial inclusion. These findings are in line with a growing literature that finds PW programs to have limited immediate effects—in part because the resources devoted to the programs are limited and variable. It also appears that households substitute time spent on PW for time spent on other activities. A simulation exercise suggests that in order to have a substantial effect on household incomes, PW programs would need to be more predictable, more widespread, and guarantee more work. Whether this is a good use of public funds, relative to unconditional cash transfers, is far from clear.