A Division of Laborers : Identity and Efficiency in India
Workers' social identity affects their choice of occupation, and therefore the structure and prosperity of the aggregate economy. This paper studies this phenomenon in a setting where work and identity are particularly intertwined: the Indian...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/676661613498714271/A-Division-of-Laborers-Identity-and-Efficiency-in-India http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35140 |
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okr-10986-351402022-09-20T00:10:03Z A Division of Laborers : Identity and Efficiency in India Cassan, Guilhem Keniston, Daniel Kleineberg, Tatjana OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE HUMAN CAPITAL ALLOCATION CASTE NETWORKS PRODUCTIVITY OCCUPATIONAL IDENTITY INSTITUTIONS Workers' social identity affects their choice of occupation, and therefore the structure and prosperity of the aggregate economy. This paper studies this phenomenon in a setting where work and identity are particularly intertwined: the Indian caste system. Using a new dataset that combines information on caste, occupation, wages, and historical evidence of subcastes’ traditional occupations, the paper shows that caste members are still greatly overrepresented in their traditional occupations. To quantify the effects of caste-level distortions on aggregate and distributional outcomes, the paper develops a general equilibrium Roy model of occupational choice. The authors structurally estimate the model and evaluate counterfactuals that remove castes' ties to their traditional occupations, through their direct preferences, and via their parental occupations and social networks. The findings show that the share of workers employed in their traditional occupation decreases substantially. However, the effects on aggregate output and productivity are very small–and in some counterfactuals even negative–because gains from a more efficient human capital allocation are offset by productivity losses from weaker caste networks and reduced learning across generations. The findings emphasize the importance of caste identity in coordinating workers into occupational networks that enable productivity spillovers. 2021-02-18T14:45:05Z 2021-02-18T14:45:05Z 2021-02 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/676661613498714271/A-Division-of-Laborers-Identity-and-Efficiency-in-India http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35140 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9544 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper South Asia India |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE HUMAN CAPITAL ALLOCATION CASTE NETWORKS PRODUCTIVITY OCCUPATIONAL IDENTITY INSTITUTIONS |
| spellingShingle |
OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE HUMAN CAPITAL ALLOCATION CASTE NETWORKS PRODUCTIVITY OCCUPATIONAL IDENTITY INSTITUTIONS Cassan, Guilhem Keniston, Daniel Kleineberg, Tatjana A Division of Laborers : Identity and Efficiency in India |
| geographic_facet |
South Asia India |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9544 |
| description |
Workers' social identity affects
their choice of occupation, and therefore the structure and
prosperity of the aggregate economy. This paper studies this
phenomenon in a setting where work and identity are
particularly intertwined: the Indian caste system. Using a
new dataset that combines information on caste, occupation,
wages, and historical evidence of subcastes’ traditional
occupations, the paper shows that caste members are still
greatly overrepresented in their traditional occupations. To
quantify the effects of caste-level distortions on aggregate
and distributional outcomes, the paper develops a general
equilibrium Roy model of occupational choice. The authors
structurally estimate the model and evaluate counterfactuals
that remove castes' ties to their traditional
occupations, through their direct preferences, and via their
parental occupations and social networks. The findings show
that the share of workers employed in their traditional
occupation decreases substantially. However, the effects on
aggregate output and productivity are very small–and in some
counterfactuals even negative–because gains from a more
efficient human capital allocation are offset by
productivity losses from weaker caste networks and reduced
learning across generations. The findings emphasize the
importance of caste identity in coordinating workers into
occupational networks that enable productivity spillovers. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Cassan, Guilhem Keniston, Daniel Kleineberg, Tatjana |
| author_facet |
Cassan, Guilhem Keniston, Daniel Kleineberg, Tatjana |
| author_sort |
Cassan, Guilhem |
| title |
A Division of Laborers : Identity and Efficiency in India |
| title_short |
A Division of Laborers : Identity and Efficiency in India |
| title_full |
A Division of Laborers : Identity and Efficiency in India |
| title_fullStr |
A Division of Laborers : Identity and Efficiency in India |
| title_full_unstemmed |
A Division of Laborers : Identity and Efficiency in India |
| title_sort |
division of laborers : identity and efficiency in india |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/676661613498714271/A-Division-of-Laborers-Identity-and-Efficiency-in-India http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35140 |
| _version_ |
1764482409893462016 |