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Are there any roles for social conformity and deviance in poverty? Insights from a field study on working poverty and educational investment in Bangladesh

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  • Partha Gangopadhyay
  • Mustafa A. Rahman
  • Biswa Nath Bhattacharya

Abstract

In recent decades the Indian subcontinent has displayed remarkable invariance in the incidence of working poverty despite strong economic performance. It is widely held that education can rescue households from various types of poverty traps created by information problems and incorrect expectations. Yet we know very little about the motivation of the working poor in acquiring education. From a field study conducted in Bangladesh, we gain invaluable insights for the first time, to our best understanding, into the factors that shape the decision of a poor household to care about and respond to educational decisions of others in one's community. Based on the ‘choice-theoretic framework of rational emulation and deviance’, we empirically explain why some households choose to copy others, while some choose deviance even though social deviance in acquiring education can throw subjects into abject poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • Partha Gangopadhyay & Mustafa A. Rahman & Biswa Nath Bhattacharya, 2014. "Are there any roles for social conformity and deviance in poverty? Insights from a field study on working poverty and educational investment in Bangladesh," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 539-557, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rjapxx:v:19:y:2014:i:4:p:539-557
    DOI: 10.1080/13547860.2014.920590
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    1. Ravallion, Martin & Shaohua Chen, 1998. "When economic reform is faster than statistical reform - measuring and explaining inequality in rural China," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1902, The World Bank.
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