Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/33414 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 2008
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Since 1989, there has been a sharp increase in the role of caste and religion in determining political fortunes at both state and federal levels in India. As a consequence, significant inter-caste and inter-religion differences in earnings have the potential to stall the process of economic reforms. Yet, the patterns and determinants of such differences remain unexplored. We address this lacuna in the literature, and explore the determinants of the differences in inter-caste and inter-religion earnings in India during the 1987-99 period, using the 43rd and 55th rounds of National Sample Survey (NSS). Our results suggest that (a) earnings differences between upper castes and SC/ST have declined between 1987 and 1999, (b) over the same period, earnings differences between Muslims and non-Muslims have increased, to the detriment of the former, and (c) inter-caste and inter-religion differences in earnings can be explained largely by corresponding differences in educational endowment and returns on age (and, hence, experience). However, differences in returns on education do not explain inter-caste and inter-religion earnings differences to a great extent.
Subjects: 
inequality
caste
religion
India
JEL: 
O15
O17
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
347.17 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.