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Inequality of Educational Opportunity in India: Changes Over Time and Across States

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Listed author(s):
  • Asadullah, M. Niaz
  • Yalonetzky, Gaston

Abstract

This paper documents the extent of inequality of educational opportunity in India spanning the period 1983–2004 using National Sample Surveys. We build on recent developments in the literature that have operationalized concepts of inequality of opportunity theory and construct several indices of inequality of educational opportunity for an adult sample. Kerala stands out as the least opportunity-unequal state. Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh experienced large-scale falls in the ranking of inequality of opportunities. By contrast, West Bengal and Orissa made significant progress in reducing inequality of opportunity. We also examine the links between progress toward equality of opportunity and a selection of pro-poor policies.

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File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X11002920
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Article provided by Elsevier in its journal World Development.

Volume (Year): 40 (2012)
Issue (Month): 6 ()
Pages: 1151-1163

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Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:40:y:2012:i:6:p:1151-1163
DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.11.008
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev

Keywords: religion; gender; caste; inequality of opportunity; South Asia; India;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
  • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

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  1. Sonalde Desai & Veena Kulkarni, 2008. "Changing educational inequalities in india in the context of affirmative action," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 45(2), pages 245-270, May.
  2. Sen, Amartya, 2001. "Development as Freedom," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192893307, April.
  3. Nazmul Chaudhury & Jeffrey Hammer & Michael Kremer & Karthik Muralidharan & F. Halsey Rogers, 2006. "Missing in Action: Teacher and Health Worker Absence in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 91-116, Winter.
  4. Gaston Yalonetzky, 2012. "A dissimilarity index of multidimensional inequality of opportunity," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 10(3), pages 343-373, September.
  5. Jere R. Behrman & Alejandro Gaviria & Miguel Székely, 2001. "Intergenerational Mobility in Latin America," ECONOMIA JOURNAL OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION, ECONOMIA JOURNAL OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION, vol. 0(Fall 2001), pages 1-44, August.
  6. Ashwini Deshpande, 2007. "Overlapping Identities under Liberalization: Gender and Caste in India," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55, pages 735-760.
  7. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2007. "The progress of school education in India," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(2), pages 168-195, Summer.
  8. S. Mahendra Dev, 2008. "India," Chapters,in: Handbook on the South Asian Economies, chapter 1 Edward Elgar Publishing.
  9. Fleurbaey, Marc, 2012. "Fairness, Responsibility, and Welfare," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199653591, April.
  10. Arnaud Lefranc & Nicolas Pistolesi & Alain Trannoy, 2008. "Inequality Of Opportunities Vs. Inequality Of Outcomes: Are Western Societies All Alike?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 54(4), pages 513-546, December.
  11. Checchi, Daniele & Peragine, Vito, 2005. "Regional Disparities and Inequality of Opportunity: The Case of Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 1874, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  12. Leonardo C. Gasparini, 2002. "On the measurement of unfairness An application to high school attendance in Argentina," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 19(4), pages 795-810.
  13. Thomas, Vinod & Wang, Yan & Fan, Xibo, 2001. "Measuring education inequality - Gini coefficients of education," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2525, The World Bank.
  14. Sean Dougherty & Richard Herd, 2008. "Improving Human Capital Formation in India," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 625, OECD Publishing.
  15. Fields, Gary S. & Ok, Efe A., 1996. "The Meaning and Measurement of Income Mobility," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 349-377, November.
  16. Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Jérémie Gignoux, 2011. "The Measurement Of Inequality Of Opportunity: Theory And An Application To Latin America," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 57(4), pages 622-657, December.
  17. Gaston Yalonetzky, 2010. "A Dissimilarity Index of Multidimensional Inequality of Opportunity (Revised and Updated)," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp0039, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
  18. Gabriela Schütz & Heinrich W. Ursprung & Ludger Wößmann, 2008. "Education Policy and Equality of Opportunity," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 279-308, 05.
  19. Peter Lanjouw & Rinku Murgai, 2009. "Poverty decline, agricultural wages, and nonfarm employment in rural India: 1983-2004," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(2), pages 243-263, 03.
  20. Gaston Yalonetzky, 2009. "Comparing Economic Mobility with Heterogeneity Indices: An Application to Education in Peru," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp033, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
  21. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2007. "The progress of school education in India," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(2), pages 168-195, Summer.
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Cited by:

  1. Rajius Idzalika & Maria C. Lo Bue, 2016. "Opportunities in education: are factors outside individual responsibility really persistent? Evidence from Indonesia, 1997-2007," Working Papers 397, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
  2. Jean-François Carpantier & Christelle Sapata, 2013. "An Ex-Post View of Inequality of Opportunity in France and its Regions," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 281-311, September.
  3. Emran,M. Shahe & Sun,Yan - GSP05, 2015. "Are the children of uneducated farmers doubly disadvantaged ? farm, nonfarm and intergenerational educational mobility in rural China," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7459, The World Bank.
  4. Mehtabul Azam & Vipul Bhatt, 2015. "Like Father, Like Son? Intergenerational Educational Mobility in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(6), pages 1929-1959, December.
  5. Sonali Jain-Chandra & Tidiane Kinda & Kalpana Kochhar & Shi Piao & Johanna Schauer, 2016. "Sharing the Growth Dividend; Analysis of Inequality in Asia_cm updated," IMF Working Papers 16/48, International Monetary Fund.
  6. Ashish Singh, 2011. "Gender based intra-household inequality of opportunity in academic skills among Indian children," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 31(3), pages 2333-2346.
  7. repec:bpj:ajlecn:v:8:y:2017:i:1:p:36:n:1 is not listed on IDEAS
  8. Emran, M. Shahe & Greene, William H & Shilpi, Forhad, 2015. "When measure matters: coresident sample selection bias in estimating intergenerational mobility in developing countries," MPRA Paper 65920, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  9. Sripad Motiram & Ashish Singh, 2012. "How close does the apple fall to the tree? Some evidence on intergenerational occupational mobility from India," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2012-017, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
  10. Emran, M. Shahe & Sun, Yan, 2014. "Are the Children of Uneducated Farmers Doubly Doomed? Farm, Nonfarm and Intergenerational Educational Mobility in Rural China," MPRA Paper 59230, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  11. Vladimir Hlasny, 2017. "Different Faces of Inequality across Asia: Decomposition of Income Gaps across Demographic Groups," LIS Working papers 691, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
  12. Ranasinghe Rasika, 2015. "The Transmission of Education across Generations: Evidence from Australia," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(4), pages 1893-1917, October.
  13. Reddy, A. Bheemeshwar, 2015. "Changes in Intergenerational Occupational Mobility in India: Evidence from National Sample Surveys, 1983–2012," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 329-343.

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