Caste as an Impediment to Trade

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Anderson, Siwan
• 署名单位: University of British Columbia; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR)
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.3.1.239
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 239-263
• 关键词: public-goods; MARKETS; HISTORY

摘要

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 e where they are not. (JEL O12, O13, O17, O18, Q15, R23, Z13)