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American Economic Review Vol. 106 No. 6 2016

Does Affirmative Action Work? Caste, Gender, College Quality, and Academic Success in India

Surendrakumar Bagde1; Dennis Epple2; Lowell Taylor3

1 Indian Administrative Services, 23 Bel Heaven Apartments, Vitthaldas Thackersy Marg, NML, Mumbai 400020 India (e-mail: ) · 2 Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, and NBER (e-mail: ) · 3 Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, NORC, and NBER (e-mail: )

Abstract

Public policy in modern India features affirmative action programs intended to reduce inequality that stems from a centuries-old caste structure and history of disparate treatment by gender. We study the effects of one such affirmative action program: an admissions policy that fixes percentage quotas, common across more than 200 engineering colleges, for disadvantaged castes and for women. We show that the program increases college attendance of targeted students, particularly at relatively higher-quality institutions. An important concern is that affirmative action might harm intended beneficiaries by placing them in academic programs for which they are ill-prepared. We find no evidence of such adverse impacts.

DOI
10.1257/aer.20140783
Volume
106
Issue
6
Pages
1495-1521
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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