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Affirmative Action in India via Vertical, Horizontal, and Overlapping Reservations

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  • Tayfun Sönmez
  • M. Bumin Yenmez

Abstract

Sanctioned by its constitution, India is home to the world's most comprehensive affirmative action program, where historically discriminated groups are protected with vertical reservations implemented as “set asides,” and other disadvantaged groups are protected with horizontal reservations implemented as “minimum guarantees.” A mechanism mandated by the Supreme Court in 1995 suffers from important anomalies, triggering countless litigations in India. Foretelling a recent reform correcting the flawed mechanism, we propose the 2SMG mechanism that resolves all anomalies, and characterize it with desiderata reflecting laws of India. Subsequently rediscovered with a high court judgment and enforced in Gujarat, 2SMG is also endorsed by Saurav Yadav v. State of UP (2020), in a Supreme Court ruling that rescinded the flawed mechanism. While not explicitly enforced, 2SMG is indirectly enforced for an important subclass of applications in India, because no other mechanism satisfies the new mandates of the Supreme Court.

Suggested Citation

  • Tayfun Sönmez & M. Bumin Yenmez, 2022. "Affirmative Action in India via Vertical, Horizontal, and Overlapping Reservations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(3), pages 1143-1176, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:emetrp:v:90:y:2022:i:3:p:1143-1176
    DOI: 10.3982/ECTA17788
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tayfun Sönmez & M. Bumin Yenmez, 2019. "Affirmative Action in India via Vertical and Horizontal Reservations," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 977, Boston College Department of Economics.
    2. Ehlers, Lars & Hafalir, Isa E. & Yenmez, M. Bumin & Yildirim, Muhammed A., 2014. "School choice with controlled choice constraints: Hard bounds versus soft bounds," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 648-683.
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    6. Tayfun Sönmez & Tobias B. Switzer, 2013. "Matching With (Branch‐of‐Choice) Contracts at the United States Military Academy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(2), pages 451-488, March.
    7. Yuichiro Kamada & Fuhito Kojima, 2015. "Efficient Matching under Distributional Constraints: Theory and Applications," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(1), pages 67-99, January.
    8. Federico Echenique & M. Bumin Yenmez, 2015. "How to Control Controlled School Choice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(8), pages 2679-2694, August.
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    12. Kelso, Alexander S, Jr & Crawford, Vincent P, 1982. "Job Matching, Coalition Formation, and Gross Substitutes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1483-1504, November.
    13. Tayfun Sönmez, 2013. "Bidding for Army Career Specialties: Improving the ROTC Branching Mechanism," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 121(1), pages 186-219.
    14. Eric Budish, 2011. "The Combinatorial Assignment Problem: Approximate Competitive Equilibrium from Equal Incomes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(6), pages 1061-1103.
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    Cited by:

    1. Battal Dou{g}an & Kenzo Imamura & M. Bumin Yenmez, 2022. "Market Design with Deferred Acceptance: A Recipe for Policymaking," Papers 2209.06777, arXiv.org.
    2. Li, Mengling & Riyanto, Yohanes E. & Xu, Menghan, 2023. "Prioritized organ allocation rules under compatibility constraints," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 403-427.
    3. Umut Dur & Thayer Morrill & William Phan, 2024. "Partitionable choice functions and stability," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 63(2), pages 359-375, September.
    4. Minoru Kitahara & Yasunori Okumura, 2023. "School Choice with Multiple Priorities," Papers 2308.04780, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2024.
    5. Orhan Aygün & Bertan Turhan, 2023. "Priority design for engineering colleges in India," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 5-15, July.
    6. Mustafa Oğuz Afacan, 2023. "Axiomatic characterizations of the constrained probabilistic serial mechanism," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 95(3), pages 465-484, October.
    7. Almeer, Abdullah & Dur, Umut & Harris, Will & Hauser, Greg & Phan, William & Zhang, Yanning, 2024. "Increasing the representation of a targeted type in a reserve system," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 34-41.
    8. Dur, Umut & Zhang, Yanning, 2023. "Fairness under affirmative action policies with overlapping reserves," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    9. Oguzhan Celebi, 2023. "Diversity Preferences, Affirmative Action and Choice Rules," Papers 2310.14442, arXiv.org.
    10. Wataru ISHIDA & Yusuke IWASE & Taro KUMANO, 2024. "Efficient and (or) fair allocations under market-clearing constraints," Discussion papers e-24-004, Graduate School of Economics , Kyoto University.

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