The Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH) is pleased to invite you to the CSH Seminar (Online):

by

Tista Kundu

Centre de Sciences Humaines (Delhi)

Equalization of opportunities across caste groups in India: A distributional analysis

On

Monday 5 October 2020, from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm

The session will be online via Zoom: https://zoom.us

To get a priority access in case of large affluence, kindly register to: neeru[dot]gohar[at]csh-delhi[dot]com

Abstract: Applying a robust approach of distributional dominance, this paper finds evidence of inequality of opportunity due to caste identities in India as well as the equalization of it over the time span of 1999-2012, from the database of National Sample Surveys. Although caste specific distributions reveal a clear hierarchy of the forward General caste category over the Other Backward Class (OBC) and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) throughout this period, the degree of discrimination between them decreases over this interval, for both consumption expenditure and wage-earning. But while the bulk of equalization in regular and casual wage-earning happens between 1999-2005, consumption opportunity mostly equalizes in the last six years. We further find consumption gaps to equalize between all pairs of caste groups, whereas earning opportunity equalization is rather prominent in comparison with the forward General caste category.

Tista Kunda is a Post-doctoral research fellow at CSH, working in the framework of the “Challenging Inequality” (CHALLINEQ) research project. She obtained her Ph.D. in Economics from ESSEC Business School, Paris, in collaboration with the laboratoire THEMA at Université de Cergy-Pontoise, France. Prior to that, she was at the University of Calcutta and Presidency University, Kolkata, wherefrom she has her Masters and M.Phil in Economics. Her doctoral research was on Inequality of opportunity, that, unlike the conventional inequality analysis, prioritize to estimate inequality that is generated only from factors beyond individual responsibilities like sex, caste, family backgrounds etc. So far the focus of her analysis is concentrated on India, mostly exploiting the National Sample Survey database. She is also interested in issues in labor market/inter-generational mobility/educational opportunity in terms of the different tire of social hierarchy and in general, micro-development economic applications.

More info:

jt[dot]martelli[at]csh-delhi[dot]com
tista[dot]kundu[at]csh-delhi[dot]com