Public works play a safety net role by conferring transfer and stabilization benefits to the poor.
These programs also use the labor of the poor to build infrastructure for development. Transfer benefits are simply the gross benefits to participants less any real cost they incur in participating, plus the share of the poor in the extra income generated by the scheme's outputs, and any other second-round effects on income from other sources. The former are direct benefits and the latter indirect benefits. Stabilization benefits arise from the scheme's effect on the risk facing the poor of a decrease in consumption. These benefits can be substantial.