Impact of an employment guarantee scheme on utilisation of maternal healthcare services: Results from a natural experiment in India

We assess the impact of India's National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme, the world's largest workfare scheme, on healthcare utilisation – specifically maternal healthcare. The primary objective of NREG is to improve the income of rural households by guaranteeing 100 days of employment. We expect that by improving household income, thereby reducing some of the financial barriers, such as out-of-pocket payments, NREG can increase...