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Affirmative action, education and gender: Evidence from India

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  • Cassan, Guilhem

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of India's affirmative action policies for Scheduled Castes on educational attainment. Using a plausibly exogenous variation, I show that affirmative action increases educational attainment. The main improvements are in literacy and secondary schooling and there is only small evidence of increases in higher education. The benefits are not distributed evenly across genders: only males show an increase in education (in literacy, primary and secondary completion). Individuals at the intersection of discriminated groups (low caste and female) may not be benefiting from these policies.

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  • Cassan, Guilhem, 2019. "Affirmative action, education and gender: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 51-70.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:136:y:2019:i:c:p:51-70
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.10.001
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Identity; Scheduled caste; Quota; Affirmative action; Gender; India; Education; Intersectionality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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