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The Impact of Employment Quotas on the Economic Lives of Disadvantaged Minorities in India

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  • Prakash, Nishith

    (Northeastern University)

Abstract

India has the world's biggest and arguably most aggressive employment-based affirmative action policy for minorities. This paper exploits the institutional features of a federally mandated employment quota policy to examine its causal impact on the economic lives of the two distinct minority groups (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes). My main finding is that a 1-percentage point increase in the employment quota for Scheduled Castes increases the likelihood of obtaining a salaried job by 0.6-percentage points for male Scheduled Caste members residing in the rural sector. The employment quota policy has no impact for Scheduled Tribes. Contrary to popular notion, I do not find evidence of "elite-capture" among the Scheduled Castes – the impact is concentrated among members who have completed less than secondary education. Consistent with the employment results, I find that the policy improved the well-being of Scheduled Castes members in rural areas who have completed less than secondary education. Finally, the impact of the employment quota policy varies by state characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Prakash, Nishith, 2020. "The Impact of Employment Quotas on the Economic Lives of Disadvantaged Minorities in India," IZA Discussion Papers 13847, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13847
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    2. Gautam Bose & Arghya Ghosh, 2022. "Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity, or just tax the rich? Development, efficiency, and the pursuit of equity," Discussion Papers 2022-02, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.
    3. Sandhya Garg & Samarth Gupta & Sushanta Mallick, 2023. "Does Social Identity Constrain Rural Entrepreneurship? The Role of Financial Inclusion," IEG Working Papers 460, Institute of Economic Growth.
    4. Guillaume Marois & Ekaterina Zhelenkova & Balhasan Ali, 2022. "Labour Force Projections in India Until 2060 and Implications for the Demographic Dividend," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 477-497, November.
    5. Pushkar Maitra & Ananta Neelim, 2024. "Discrimination in Developing Countries," Monash Economics Working Papers 2024-03, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    6. Chakraborty, Tanika & Mukherjee, Anirban & Saha, Sarani & Shukla, Divya, 2023. "Caste, courts and business," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 333-365.
    7. Tamalika Lodh & Poulomi Roy & Malabika Roy, 2021. "Intergenerational occupational mobility in India across social groups," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 405-433, December.
    8. Nawazuddin Ahmed & Dinesh K. Nauriyal, 2023. "Occupational and Educational Mobility Among Indian Muslims: Primary Survey-Based Evidence," Millennial Asia, , vol. 14(2), pages 228-259, June.
    9. Bhupatiraju,Sandeep & Chen,Daniel Li & Joshi,Shareen & Neis,Peter Konstantin, 2021. "Who Is in Justice? Caste, Religion and Gender in the Courts of Bihar over a Decade," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9555, The World Bank.
    10. MATSUMOTO Kodai & OKUMURA Yota & NAKAMURA Kenta & MORIMOTO Atsushi & YUGAMI Kazufumi, 2024. "Revisiting Disability Employment and Firm Productivity in Japan," Discussion papers 24045, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. Najam, Rafiuddin, 2024. "Closing the gap: Effect of a gender quota on women’s access to education in Afghanistan," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    12. Subedi, Mukti Nath & Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa & Ulker, Aydogan, 2022. "Effects of Affirmative Action on Educational and Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence from Nepal's Reservation Policy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 443-463.
    13. Sugata Bag & Suman Seth & Barnali Basak, 2023. "Heterogeneous effect of the Indian affirmative action: The role of caste certificates," Working papers 339, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    consumption expenditure; Scheduled Tribes; Scheduled Castes; employment quota; public sector; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General

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