Is Education the Panacea for Economic Deprivation of Muslims? Evidence from Wage Earners in India, 1987–2005

Sumon K. Bhaumik () and Manisha Chakrabarty ()

No 3232, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Abstract: Few researchers have examined the nature and determinants of earnings differentials among religious groups, and none has been undertaken in the context of conflict-prone multireligious societies like the one in India. We address this lacuna in the literature by examining the differences in the average (log) earnings of Hindu and Muslim wage earners in India, during the 1987-2005 period. Our results indicate that education differences between Hindu and Muslim wage earners, especially differences in the proportion of wage earners with tertiary education, are largely responsible for the differences in the average (log) earnings of the two religious groups across the years. By contrast, differences in the returns to education do not explain the aforementioned difference in average (log) earnings. In conclusion, we discuss some policy implications.

Keywords: earnings gap; education; decomposition; religion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J31 J15 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa, nep-dev, nep-edu, nep-hrm and nep-lab
Date: 2007-12
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Related works:
Working Paper: Is Education the Panacea for Economic Deprivation of Muslims? Evidence from Wage Earners in India, 1987-2004 (2007)
Working Paper: Is Education the Panacea for Economic Deprivation of Muslims? Evidence from Wage Earners in India, 1987-2004 (2008)
Journal Article: Is education the panacea for economic deprivation of Muslims?: Evidence from wage earners in India, 1987-2005 (2009)
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