American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
Caste as an Impediment to Trade
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
(pp. 239–63)
Abstract
We compare outcomes across two types of villages in rural India. Villages vary by which caste is dominant (owns the majority of land): either a low or high caste. The key finding is that income is substantially higher for low-caste households residing in villages dominated by a low caste. This seems to be due to a trade breakdown in irrigation water across caste groups. All else equal, lower caste water buyers have agricultural yields which are 45 percent higher if they reside in a village where water sellers are of the same caste compared to one where they are not. (JEL O12, O13, O17, O18, Q15, R23, Z13)Citation
Anderson, Siwan. 2011. "Caste as an Impediment to Trade." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3 (1): 239–63. DOI: 10.1257/app.3.1.239Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
- O13 Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
- O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
- O18 Economic Development: Regional, Urban, and Rural Analyses; Transportation
- Q15 Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
- R23 Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Social and Economic Stratification