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Preferences and Skills of Indian Public Sector Teachers

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  • Fagernäs, Sonja

    (University of Sussex)

  • Pelkonen, Panu

    (University of Sussex)

Abstract

With a sample of 700 future public sector primary teachers in India, a Discrete Choice Experiment is used to measure job preferences, particularly regarding location. General skills are also tested. Urban origin teachers and women are more averse to remote locations than rural origin teachers and men respectively. The joint analysis of preferences and skills suggests that existing caste and gender quotas are detrimental for the objective of hiring skilled teachers willing to work in remote locations. The most preferred location is home, which supports decentralised hiring, although evidence suggests that in remote areas this could compromise skills.

Suggested Citation

  • Fagernäs, Sonja & Pelkonen, Panu, 2012. "Preferences and Skills of Indian Public Sector Teachers," IZA Discussion Papers 6563, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6563
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Karthik Muralidharan & Venkatesh Sundararaman, 2013. "Contract Teachers: Experimental Evidence from India," NBER Working Papers 19440, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Lee Crawfurd & Todd Pugatch, 2020. "Teacher Labor Markets in Developing Countries," Working Papers 546, Center for Global Development.
    3. Agarwal, Siddhant & Kayina, Athisii & Mukhopadhyay, Abhiroop & Reddy, Anugula N., 2018. "Redistributing teachers using local transfers," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 333-344.
    4. Rakshit, Sonali & Sahoo, Soham, 2023. "Biased teachers and gender gap in learning outcomes: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    5. Johnston, Jamie & Ksoll, Christopher, 2022. "Effectiveness of interactive satellite-transmitted instruction: Experimental evidence from Ghanaian primary schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    6. Fagernäs, Sonja & Pelkonen, Panu, 2017. "Where's the Teacher? How Teacher Workplace Segregation Impedes Teacher Allocation in India," IZA Discussion Papers 10595, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    skills; job preferences; teacher recruitment; discrete choice experiment; hiring quotas; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets

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