and a marked decline in the poverty headcount from 0.43 to 0.31. Partly as a result of subdivision in the course of succession, the mean land endowment declined from 5.6 to 4.7, with a modest increase in the incidence of irrigation. The sharp increase in the share of land that inherited (from 82% to 95%) illustrates that limited importance of land markets in reallocating land from less to more productive farmers.<sup>15</sup> Control areas are characterized by higher levels of income and consumption, lower levels of poverty, a higher share of irrigated land, and marginally higher access to bullocks or tractors.

The period was characterized by significant increases in wages, from Rs 46 to Rs. 53 per day (for male it was 51 to 58 Rs per day and for female it was 36 to 41 Rs per day). The higher growth rate in non-agriculture compared to agriculture suggests that part of this increase may be MNREGS-induced although wage levels were higher in the control than the treatments. In terms of time use, we find a drop in those who did not work (15% to 11%) or attended to domestic duties only (26% to 24%). This was accompanied by increases in the share of self-employment in agriculture (28% to 33%) as well as non-agriculture (3% to 4%) as well as casual workers in agriculture (10% to 11%) and non-agriculture (6% to 10%) that may again be programinduced and a slight decrease in the share of those in salaried work (5% to 4%).

To compensate for the lack of information on MNREGS implementation at household level and allow us to make at least initial inferences on whether the consumption or the production channel is the most relevant channel for project impacts to materialize, we complement household-level with administrative data on the total number of days of employment provided under MNREGS, in total and for irrigation-related activities that could be expected to have an immediate productivity-enhancing impact. Summary statistics for these data, which unfortunately were available only from Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu, in panel C. With 38.8 days of employment generated per household in treated villages (vs. 6.5 in control villages, pointing to some contamination), the program’s size is not inconsequential. Also, with 17.1, almost half this employment was in irrigation-related activities which, if effectively implemented, should have an almost immediate impact on agricultural production.

Information on agricultural production outcomes in table 3 points towards modest increases in value of output (from Rs. 4,129 to Rs. 4,746/ ac.) and inputs (from Rs. 1,072 to 1,339/ac.) as well as profits from agricultural cultivation (Rs. 3,057 to 3,407/ac.). The incidence of irrigation increased markedly, from 38% to 56%, possibly reflecting MNREGS-related investment. While total number of hired labor used increased from 30 to 42 days, family labor use decreased from 91 to 79 days. Intensity of hired labor was much higher in treated areas than in controls while more family labor was used in control compared to treatment areas.

> 15 Functioning of rural land sales markets is affected by land ceilings imposed to facilitate land reforms. Rental markets are outlawed in many states, leading to static efficiency losses (Deininger _et al._ 2008) and depressing investment (Deininger _et al._ 2013b). Ill-functioning land markets have also been linked to significant inefficiencies in the industrial context (Duranton _et al._ 2014).

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