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Earnings and Caste: An Evaluation of Caste Wage Differentials in the Nepalese Labour Market

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  • Ram Mainali
  • Saqib Jafarey
  • Gabriel Montes-Rojas

Abstract

This paper examines the sources of wage differentials among castes in Nepal, a country which had, until 1963, an age-old caste-based social division of labour. We use an extended Oaxaca decomposition model with occupation and firm size augmenting the conventionally used measures of human capital endowments. Our results indicate that caste wage differentials in Nepal are large and that human capital endowments and lack of access to better paying occupations and larger firms have a significant impact. Furthermore, we find mixed evidence that the government policy of affirmative action has narrowed down the caste wage differential.

Suggested Citation

  • Ram Mainali & Saqib Jafarey & Gabriel Montes-Rojas, 2017. "Earnings and Caste: An Evaluation of Caste Wage Differentials in the Nepalese Labour Market," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(3), pages 396-421, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevst:v:53:y:2017:i:3:p:396-421
    DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2016.1189535
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    Cited by:

    1. Chakravarty, Shubha & Lundberg, Mattias & Nikolov, Plamen & Zenker, Juliane, 2019. "Vocational training programs and youth labor market outcomes: Evidence from Nepal," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 71-110.
    2. Gabriel Montes-Rojas & Lucas Siga & Ram Mainali, 2017. "Mean and quantile regression Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions with an application to caste discrimination," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 15(3), pages 245-255, September.
    3. Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Aryal, Jeetendra Prakash & Chhay, Panharoth & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2022. "Ethnicity/caste-based social differentiation and the consumption of clean cooking energy in Nepal: An exploration using panel data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    4. D'Haene, E. & Desiere, S. & D'Haese, M. & Verbeke, W. & Schoors, K., 2018. "Religion, food choices, and demand seasonality: Evidence from the Ethiopian milk market," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276029, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

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