scholarly journals Those who can't sort, steal: caste, occupational mobility, and rent-seeking in rural India

2021 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-140
Author(s):  
Nicholas Lawson ◽  
Dean Spears
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Occupational Mobility ◽  
Rent Seeking ◽  
Static Equilibrium ◽  
Rural India ◽  
Equilibrium Outcome ◽  
Stylized Facts ◽  
Survey Question

AbstractThree important features of Indian labor markets enduringly coexist: rent-seeking, occupational immobility, and caste. These facts are puzzling, given theories that predict static, equilibrium social inequality without conflict. Our model explains these facts as an equilibrium outcome. Some people switch caste-associated occupations for an easier source of rents, rather than for productivity. This undermines trust between castes and shuts down occupational mobility, which further encourages rent-seeking due to an inability of workers to sort into occupations. We motivate our contribution with novel stylized facts exploiting a unique survey question on casteism in India, which we show is associated with rent-seeking.

Occupational Mobility among Immigrants: The Impact of Migration on Economic Success in Australia

1995 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 441-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian McAllister
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Occupational Mobility ◽  
Occupational Status ◽  
Economic Success ◽  
Scholarly Research ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Employer Discrimination ◽  
The Impact

It is an almost universal finding in scholarly research that immigrants fare worse economically than individuals born in the country. This disadvantage usually has been explained either by the operation of competitive labor markets or by employer discrimination. By analyzing national survey data collected among immigrants to Australia, this article examines immigrant occupational mobility. For immigrants, the results show economic disadvantages are caused by the act of migration itself rather than by economic experiences in their new country. Occupational status is depressed at the beginning of the immigrants’ Australian working career, and this in turn diminishes occupational status throughout the working lives of the immigrants and accounts for the economic disadvantages they face.

Book review: K. L. Sharma, Caste, Social Inequality and Mobility in Rural India: Reconceptualising the Indian Village

Social Change ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-266
Author(s):  
Ashok Pankaj
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequality ◽  
Rural India ◽  
Indian Village

K. L. Sharma, Caste, Social Inequality and Mobility in Rural India: Reconceptualising the Indian Village. Delhi: SAGE Publications, 2019, 379 pp., ₹1,195, ISBN 978-93-532-8201-1.

scholarly journals Preference Signaling in Matching Markets

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Coles ◽  
Alexey Kushnir ◽  
Muriel Niederle
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Matching Markets ◽  
Stylized Facts ◽  
Signaling Mechanism ◽  
Full Attention

Many labor markets share three stylized facts: employers cannot give full attention to all candidates, candidates are ready to provide information about their preferences for particular employers, and employers value and are prepared to act on this information. In this paper we study how a signaling mechanism, where each worker can send a signal of interest to one employer, facilitates matches in such markets. We find that introducing a signaling mechanism increases the welfare of workers and the number of matches, while the change in firm welfare is ambiguous. A signaling mechanism adds the most value for balanced markets. (JEL C78)

The Transformative Power of Knowledge Sharing in Settings of Poverty and Social Inequality

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 1575-1599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Israr Qureshi ◽  
Christopher Sutter ◽  
Babita Bhatt
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Boundary Work ◽  
Action Observation ◽  
Rural India ◽  
Boundary Spanners ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Extreme Poverty ◽  
Community Transformation

Knowledge sharing is central to reducing inequality and alleviating poverty. However, communities in settings of extreme poverty are often bounded by distinct perspectives and understandings that hinder knowledge sharing. Furthermore, social fault lines may create internal boundaries that impede interaction, further complicating knowledge sharing. Despite these challenges, some knowledge sharing efforts are successful. The purpose of this study is to better understand how knowledge sharing overcomes boundaries in settings of extreme inequality and poverty. Using qualitative data from rural India, we find that boundary work performed by boundary spanners overcomes external and internal boundaries by creating space for action, observation, and reflection in the recipient community. These actions, or syncretizing mechanisms, transform newly introduced knowledge, which then facilitates further boundary work, resulting in community transformation. Under certain circumstances, we see how boundary work and syncretism can lead to significant knowledge and recipient transformation. Thus, we seek to contribute to the literature by more fully exploring the transformative power of knowledge sharing within contexts of extreme poverty, and by explaining the process by which it occurs.

scholarly journals Social Inequality and County-Level Correlates of State Prison Releases and Releases from Community Supervision

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 167
Author(s):  
Ronald Helms ◽  
S. E. Costanza ◽  
Ricky S. Gutierrez
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Prisoner Reentry ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Community Supervision ◽  
County Level ◽  
Local Labor Markets ◽  
State Prison ◽  
Policy Concern ◽  
Support Policy

Prisoner reentry is an important contemporary policy concern as many ex-convicts reenter communities uneducated and unprepared to compete in local labor markets. This study uses data from the 2003 National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP) for the states of California, Illinois and Washington to examine contextual correlates of reentry patterns. The analyses reveal systematic correlates of releases from both incarceration and community supervision that highlight a diverse array of difficulties for offenders returning to their home community. The results of this study underscore the often-difficult transitions facing reentering offenders and support policy implications for those who oversee reentry processes.

Finding Good Opportunities within Unauthorized Markets: U.S. Occupational Mobility for Male Latino Workers

1996 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 901-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherrie A. Kossoudji ◽  
Deborah A. Cobb-Clark
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
English Language ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Occupational Mobility ◽  
Immigration Reform ◽  
Wage Penalty ◽  
Latino Men ◽  
Latino Workers ◽  
Residency Status ◽  
And Control

Unauthorized workers, because of their lack of legal status, have constrained opportunities in U.S. labor markets. We examine the determinants of occupational mobility for a sample of unauthorized Latino men who received temporary residency status under the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). Estimates from mobility equations (for both upward and downward occupational mobility) show that English language ability, experience, the risk of being apprehended on the job, a realized apprehension, migrant networks, and the wage penalty for unauthorized workers all play specific and significant roles in mobility when working in unauthorized labor markets.

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