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  4. April 2024
  5. Intergenerational Mobility in India: New Measures and Estimates across Time and Social Groups

Intergenerational Mobility in India: New Measures and Estimates across Time and Social Groups

  • Sam Asher
  • Paul Novosad
  • Charlie Rafkin
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 16, no. 2, April 2024
(pp. 66-98)
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Abstract

We study intergenerational mobility in India. We propose a new measure of upward mobility: the expected education rank of a child born to parents in the bottom half of the education distribution. This measure works well under data constraints common in developing countries and historical contexts. Intergenerational mobility in India has been constant and low since before liberalization. Among sons, we observe rising mobility for Scheduled Castes and declining mobility among Muslims. Daughters' intergenerational mobility is lower than sons', with less cross-group variation over time. A natural experiment suggests that affirmative action for Scheduled Castes has substantially improved their mobility.

Citation

Asher, Sam, Paul Novosad, and Charlie Rafkin. 2024. "Intergenerational Mobility in India: New Measures and Estimates across Time and Social Groups." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 16 (2): 66-98. DOI: 10.1257/app.20210686

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • I24 Education and Inequality
  • J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
  • J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
  • J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
  • J62 Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
  • O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
  • Z12 Cultural Economics: Religion
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