Longer-Term Economic Impacts of Self-Help Groups in India

Despite the popularity and unique nature
of women's self-help groups in India, evidence of their
economic impacts is scant. Based on two rounds of a 2,400
household panel, the authors use double differences,
propensity score matching, and pipeline comparison to assess
economic impacts of longer (2.5-3 years) exposure of a
program that promoted and strengthened self-help programs in
Andhra Pradesh in India. The analysis finds that longer
program exposure has positive impacts on consumption,
nutritional intake, and asset accumulation. Investigating
heterogeneity of the impacts suggests that even the poorest
households were able to benefit from the program.
Furthermore, overall benefits would exceed program cost by a
significant margin even under conservative assumptions.