Affirmative action, education and gender: Evidence from India

Guilhem Cassan

Journal of Development Economics, 2019, vol. 136, issue C, 51-70

Abstract: This paper studies the impact of India's affirmative action policies for Scheduled Castes on educational attainment. Using a plausibly exogenous variation, I show that affirmative action increases educational attainment. The main improvements are in literacy and secondary schooling and there is only small evidence of increases in higher education. The benefits are not distributed evenly across genders: only males show an increase in education (in literacy, primary and secondary completion). Individuals at the intersection of discriminated groups (low caste and female) may not be benefiting from these policies.

Keywords: Identity; Scheduled caste; Quota; Affirmative action; Gender; India; Education; Intersectionality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H41 I24 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (36)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Affirmation Action, Education and Gender: Evidence from India (2014)
Working Paper: Affirmative Action, Education and Gender: Evidence from India (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:136:y:2019:i:c:p:51-70

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.10.001

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