Evidence on Caste Based Discrimination

Zahra Siddique

Labour Economics, 2011, vol. 18, issue S1, S146-S159

Abstract: Caste based quotas in hiring have existed in the public sector in India for decades. Recently there has been debate about introducing similar quotas in private sector jobs. This paper uses a correspondence study to determine the extent of caste based discrimination in the Indian private sector. On average low-caste applicants need to send 20% more resumes than high-caste applicants to get the same callback. Differences in callback which favor high-caste applicants are particularly large when hiring is done by male recruiters or by Hindu recruiters. This finding provides evidence that differences in callback between high and low-caste applicants are not entirely due to statistical discrimination. High-caste applicants are also differentially favored by firms with a smaller scale of operations, while low-caste applicants are favored by firms with a larger scale of operations. This finding is consistent with taste-based theories of discrimination and with commitments made by large firms to hire actively from among low-caste groups.

Keywords: Field experiments; Discrimination; Public policy; Human resources (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 J71 J78 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (50)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:labeco:v:18:y:2011:i:s1:p:s146-s159

DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2011.07.002

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