Deficient public infrastructure and private costs: Evidence for the water sector
This paper presents new evidence on the links between public infrastructure provisioning and time allocation related to the water sector in India. Using time-use data, the analysis reveals that worsening public infrastructure affects market work with evident gender differentials. The results also suggest that the access to public infrastructure can lead to substitution effects in time allocation between unpaid work and market work. The broad conclusion is that public investment policy can redress intra-household inequalities in terms of labour supply decisions by supporting initiatives that reduce the allocation of time in non-market work.