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Belief Systems and Durable Inequalities An Experimental Investigation of Indian Caste

Belief Systems and Durable Inequalities An Experimental Investigation of Indian Caste Karla Hoff Priyanka Pandey World Bank World Bank Preferences Network Meeting, January 9, 2005. The Question

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Belief Systems and Durable Inequalities An Experimental Investigation of Indian Caste

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  1. Belief Systems and Durable Inequalities An Experimental Investigation of Indian Caste Karla Hoff Priyanka Pandey World Bank World Bank Preferences Network Meeting, January 9, 2005

  2. The Question How can one explain the persistence of inequality across social groups long after discrimination is formally abolished? Traditional answer: Differences in opportunities Additional explanation: The ‘cultural legacy of subordination,’ which shapes responses to opportunity

  3. What do we mean by the cultural legacy of subordination?

  4. What do we mean by the cultural legacy of subordination? Belief systems—3 examplesRace relations: The US Supreme Court holds Negroes to be “an inferior class of beings” in the eyes of the Founding Fathers --Dred Scott case, 1857 Gender roles: In excluding women from the legal profession, the US Supreme Court (1873) rules: “Divine ordinance, as well as the nature of things” bars women from pursuing careers independent of their husbands. “This is the law of the Creator. And the rules of civil society must be adapted to the general constitution of things.” Hindu caste system: “Divine will” divided society into endogamous castes --Brahmins at the top, Untouchables at the bottom, and “different castes are built of different natural substances” (Gupta,2001)

  5. Hypotheses* Making social identity salient lowers the performance of the traditionally discriminated against group (controlling for wealth, etc.)* Implicitly evoking the meaning of one’s outcaste status (by segregating social groups) deepens this effect * Expectation of discrimination is one mechanism underlying this effect. Related literature: Claude Steele (1993): stereotype threat— but doesn’t discuss responses to economic incentives Glenn Loury (2002): black stigma as a cause of racial inequality

  6. Legal Status of the Hindu Caste System Pre-1947: For 2000 years, the low castes were denied most rights. But the dwellings of the Untouchables shall be outside the village; And dogs and donkeys should be their wealth. Manu Smriti , about the 3rd century A.D British colonial regime recognized most Hindu laws. Post 1950: Upper castes stripped of all privileges, preferences for formerly “untouchable” castes

  7. Experiment 1 The task: To solve mazes in two 15-minute rounds Data: Number of mazes solved in each round Subjects: Over 600 boys in 6th & 7th grades, equally divided between: Untouchables High caste Chamar (100%) Thakur, 70%, Brahmin, 24%, Vaishya, 6% Setting: Junior high school in Uttar Pradesh, India, Jan, March 2003 Almost double-blind: One experimenter knew, but 3 hired experimenters did not know the hypotheses being tested. The graders did not know subjects’ caste.

  8. Piece rate—1 rupee per maze solved No announcementof caste 96 subjects Announcementof caste Name of child, his village, father and grandfather, and caste are announced once the 6 subjects are assembled 120 subjects Experimental conditions Caste announced and segregated66 subjects • Average earnings = ½ day’s adult wages

  9. Set-up of Experiment Room 6 students participate in each session—with random assignment If caste is announced, that is done first. Then the experimenter distributes the show-up fee=1.5 x hourly wage

  10. Jeeps for Transporting Participants 10 students – 5 high- and 5 low-caste — are brought in from schools or homes in each of six villages

  11. Participants To the extent possible participants in a session are drawn from 6 different buses (villages) Post-experiment interviews show that a subject knows on avg. 1.4 others in his session.

  12. Passing out Envelopes with Earnings A session lasts about 1 hour. After the session children wait in a separate room till their mazes are graded.

  13. low caste, round 1 low caste, round 2 high round 1 high round 2 high caste, round 2 RESULT 1No caste gap when caste is not announced 100 Round 1 80 high caste, round 1 60 Cumulative frequency Round 2 40 20 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Score

  14. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 RESULT 2For low caste, the announcement of caste reduces Round 2 average score by 25% CasteAnnounced 100 80 60 Cumulative frequency p = .04 40 Caste Not Announced 20 0 Round 2 Score

  15. RESULT 3But for high caste, the announcement of castehas no effect (it slightly improves earnings) 100 80 Caste notannounced 60 p = .44 Cumulative frequency 40 20 Caste announced 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Round 2 Score

  16. And so… the Announcement of Castecreates a caste gap in mazes solved 100 Caste gap R1 p = .04 R2 p = .006 Low R2 80 High R2 60 40 20 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Score

  17. RESULT 4: Effect of announcing caste on proportion of low caste in each learning decile 0.7 No casteannouncement Casteannouncement 0.6 0.5 Proportion of low caste in each score range 0.4 0.6 0.3 0.4 Relative frequency 0.2 Average improvement falls by 39% for low caste, and rises by 14% for high caste 0.2 0 <1 0 1-2 3-4 >5 Change in number of mazes solved between rounds (Δ)

  18. Is Caste Just Class? Responses to post-experiment interview show large differences by caste: High caste Low caste Proportion with mother with > primary ed. .42 .14 Proportion having father with > primary ed. .80 .50 Land wealth (in acres) 2.65 1.03 Proportion of subjects with some literacy .72 .60 (measured by non-zero score on literacy test)

  19. We use 2 sets of controls • Controls (1) • Parental education and occupation • Child’s previous exposure to mazes • Number of kids known in the group • Controls (2) • Parental education and occupation • Landholding

  20. Caste Announced Caste Not Announced Caste Announced Caste Not Announced Round 1 1.04 (.03) .82 -.02 (.73) -.21 (.67) .42 (.48) . . Round 2 1.91 (.05) 1.83 -.47 (.66) -.18 .89 (.07) 1.83 -2.86 (.04) -.18 R2 .24 .27 .30 .25 N 218 146 102 52 Coefficient on High Caste Dummy vs. Raw Score of Caste Gap Controls (1) Controls (2)

  21. RESULT 5For low caste, segregating and announcing caste lowers score by 32% in R1 (vs. 14% drop from announcement alone in R1) Segregated and announced p =.03 Caste notannounced

  22. For high caste, announcing caste and segregatinglowers Round 1 score by 25 percent Segregated and announced p = .07 Caste notannounced

  23. Why does the caste gap occur? We can eliminate: - Class - Lower ability - Discrimination in grading That leaves as possible mechanisms: 1. Self-confidence: Consciously or not 2. Risk aversion 3. Expected discrimination Rational Behavioral --i.e. making caste salient activates a theory of the world and the low caste’s place in the world, which others will enforce

  24. Caste is announced, R1 is as before, and in R2 the experimenter says: This game will be just the same as the first one, except that I will ask each of you to choose the level of difficulty of the puzzles. The payment that you will receive for solving a puzzle depends on its difficultly level. Level Payment per maze solved Easy ½ rupee Same as before 1 rupee A bit harder 2 rupees Hard 3 rupees Hardest 4 rupees Candidate 1. Is there a caste gap in self-confidence? We run a new treatment: Choice

  25. high caste low caste No caste gap in choice of difficulty level … 45 40 35 30 25 Percent 20 15 10 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 Choice of Difficulty Level

  26. …and caste has an insignificant and negative effect in a regression Dependent variable is choice of difficulty level High caste -.39 (.27) Mother with some primary schooling .18 (.67) Mother above primary schooling .83* (.06) Father with some primary schooling 1.08* (.00) N = 56 R2= .25 Father above primary schooling .48 (.19) Father non-wage worker .35 (.44) Child has seen mazes before 1.38* (.00)

  27. Candidate 2. Is there a caste gap in risk aversion? We run a new treatment, Random Winner Caste is announced, R1 is as before, but in R2, the Experimenter says that a random draw determines one child who will receive 6 rupees per maze; the others will receive 0.

  28. 120 Piece rate with CasteAnnounced 100 80 60 40 Random winner 20 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Round 2 Score Low caste perform 26% better in Random Winner than in Piece Rate with Caste Announced p = ,07

  29. …which eliminates the caste gap 120 100 80 High Low caste. Random Winner Percent 60 High caste, Random Winner 40 20 Low 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Round 2 Score

  30. Average change in number ofmazes solved between rounds Average number of mazes solved, Round 2 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 High caste Low caste 0 0 Piece Rate Piece Rate with Caste Announced Random Winner Piece Rate Piece Rate with Caste Announced Random Winner Mean Scores in three treatments…

  31. Candidate 3: Does the low caste expect discrimination? We run a new experiment in which we manipulate the scope for discretion in rewarding effort: Traffic Jam Game The task To solve a puzzle based on Rush Hour-Traffic Jam Decision To accept or reject a gamble. If accept, success payoff 20 rupees & failure payoff 1 rupee If reject, get 10 rupees Data Proportion that accept the gamble Subjects 180 low-caste &180 high caste boys in 6th & 7th grade

  32. March 2004: Same setting as in Maze Experiment

  33. Game Board with Frame

  34. Scope for bias (game board without frame) 0.8 Low caste 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 Caste notannounced Caste announced Caste announced and segregated Caste gap in rejection rate only when2 conditions hold: scope for bias and caste is cued No scope for bias (game board with frame) 0.8 High caste 0.6 0.4 Fraction that rejects the gamble 0.2 0 Caste notannounced Casteannounced Caste announced and segregated

  35. Difference in differencesfor low caste, one-sided p–value =.09 Scope for bias No scope for bias 0.8 0.8 0.6 0.6 .57 .37 0.4 Fraction that rejects the gamble 0.4 0.2 0.2 0 0 Caste notannounced Caste announced and segregated Caste notannounced Caste announced and segregated

  36. But for high caste, no difference Scope for bias No scope for bias 0.8 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.4 Fraction that rejects the gamble 0.4 .23 .23 0.2 0.2 0 0 Caste notannounced Caste announced and segregated Caste notannounced Caste announced and segregated

  37. 1. Announcement of personal data exceptcaste • (name of child, village, father, grandfather) • Traffic Jam with and withoutbuzzer New treatments we will undertake Hypotheses: Announcing caste, not personal data, causes the caste gap If discrimination is expected, then expanding the scope for discretion (by eliminating the buzzer) should reduce low caste performance

  38. Conclusion Social identities as “sunk capital” Law has a cultural component that cannot be repealed at the stroke of a pen. Thus discrimination can have persistent effects long after it is formally abolished

  39. New Directions Common Knowledge and Coordination on “Unfair” Equilibria Social identities (a shared symbolic system) are likely also to play a role in the submission to (old) authority and in the reproduction of unequal structures of opportunity. Hypotheses: In Ultimatum Game, high caste makes low offers to low caste compared to high caste, and this gap is larger than that which occurs in Dictatorship Game. In Public Goods Game,low caste does not punish high caste for failure to contribute

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