Full Description
This volume discusses the current state of knowledge on the conceptual understanding of inequality. The book poses a range of empirical puzzles in the Indian context and examines inequalities across categories of the region of residence, caste, and sex, using a fascinating range of outcome indicators, comprising education, health, earnings, self-employment, and crime.
The empirical chapters of this volume use various large-scale secondary data sources to expose the deep-rooted, structural inequalities in the Indian society. It answers some of the pertinent questions around inequality such as why do the backward regions of India continue to remain backward, both in terms of economic and human development indicators? Why do enterprises owned by backward caste individuals have systematically lower business earnings? Are backward castes and women more likely to face crime when their relative status improves? How do the circumstances that children find given at birth influence their learning outcomes? etc.
The book will be of interest to teachers, students, and researchers of economics of education, development studies, development economics, and Indian economics. It will also be useful for policymakers, academicians, and anyone curious to learn about inequality.
Contents
List of Tables ix List of Contributors xi 1 Introduction 1 ACHIN CHAKRABORTY AND SIMANTINI MUKHOPADHYAY 2 Instrumentality of Inequality 19 NARENDAR PANI 3 'Inclusiveness' of Growth in the Light of the Analytics of Optimal Anti-Poverty Budgetary Policy 39 S. SUBRAMANIAN 4 A Synthesis of Local and Effective Tax Progressivity Measurement 58 SATYA R. CHAKRAVARTY AND PALASH SARKAR 5 How Unequal are Indian States? 83 S. CHANDRASEKHAR, KARTHIKEYA NARAPARAJU, AND AJAY SHARMA 6 Unpacking Convergence in Child Undernutrition across the Indian States 97 SIMANTINI MUKHOPADHYAY 7 Does Caste Matter in Business Earnings in India? Comparing States from Three Regions with Different Socio-economic and Political Settings 118 MANASI BERA AND AMARESH DUBEY 8 Inequality and Crime in India 140 PINTU KABIRAJ 9 Women's Inheritance Rights in India: Can Legal Reform Precipitate Social Change? 158 SANCHARI ROY 10 Inequality of Opportunity in Learning Outcomes for Children in Rural India 167 RAMA PAL AND MALLIKA SINHA 11 Public Expenditure for Compensation and Equality of Opportunity: Evidence from Indian States 189 ANJAN RAY CHAUDHURY AND MADHABENDRA SINHA Index 208
