Read "Do Public Works Programs Have Sustained Impacts? A Meta-analysis of Experimental Studies from LMICs" by Aanchal Bagga, Marcus Holmlund, Nausheen Khan, Subha Mani, Eric Mvukiyehe and Patrick Premand here [2].

Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have introduced public works programmes that offer temporary cash-for-work opportunities to poor households. In this episode of VoxDevTalks, Subha Mani and Eric Mvukiyehe outline the key results from their systematic review of experimental papers to determine whether public works programmes have sustained impacts on participants. Their results show that whilst these programmes were on average successful in increasing employment and relative earnings, these effects are short-lived and don't represent a cost-effective investment.