Identity-Based Policies and Identity Manipulation: Evidence from Colonial Punjab

Guilhem Cassan

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2015, vol. 7, issue 4, 103-31

Abstract: I study identity-marker based policies and demonstrate the existence of identity manipulation. I analyze the impact of the Punjab Alienation of Land Act (1901), a caste-based legislation, on identity manipulation. Using data from the colonial census, I show that a movement of identity manipulation took place in response to the law. I estimate that in 20 years, 7.5 percent of the population that had an incentive to do so manipulated its identity. I then use an accounting exercise to estimate that the amount of mistargeting caused by this manipulation is between 3.9 percent and 8.2 percent of the land distributed. (JEL J15, N35, N45, N55, Q15, Q24, Z13)

JEL-codes: J15 N35 N45 N55 Q15 Q24 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
Note: DOI: 10.1257/pol.20130290
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (35)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Identity Based Policies and Identity Manipulation: Evidence from Colonial Punjab (2013)
Working Paper: Identity based policies and identity manipulation: evidence from Colonial Punjab (2012)
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