Ashwini Deshpande
Biographic Data
| ID | 706814 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ashwini Deshpande |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ashwini |
| FAMILY NAME | Deshpande |
| SIGNATURE | DESHPANDE A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Ashoka University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4819-648X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 41 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 81 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 39 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The Cambridge Economic History of Modern South Asia
South Asia's economies, as well as the scholarship on their economic histories, have been transformed in recent decades. This landmark new reference history will guide economists and historians through these transformations in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Part I revisits the colonial period with fresh perspectives and updated scholarship, incorporating recent research on topics such as gender, caste, environment, and entrepreneurship. The cont…
Discriminatory social norms and early childhood development
Factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months among caregivers of children under five years in northern Ghana: A cross-sectional study
Despite consistent evidence highlighting the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first six months, EBF duration sometimes falls short of six months or exceeds it. This research seeks to explore factors influencing the practice of optimal duration of EBF and identify factors associated with suboptimal EBF durations. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 16 districts across four Northern regions of Ghana with 2000 caregivers of ch…
A Digital Blueprint of Breathing Spaces in Mumbai
Mumbai, amongst the most densely populated cities in India, offers an alarming ratio of 1.24 square meters of public open space per capita (MCGM, 2016, p. 70). The negligence in the provision and protection of public open spaces in the city’s recent Development Plan 2034, further exacerbates this deficiency. The lack of comprehensive guidelines and policy framework for efficient tracking, monitoring and management makes it extremely difficult to …
The Hidden Divide: A Note on the Significance of Within-India Stunting Disparities
An Indian Enigma? Labour market impacts of the world’s largest livelihoods program
We examine the labour market impacts of the largest livelihoods programs in the world, India’s Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). A key aspect of this program is to mobilize rural women into self-help groups (SHGs). We combine administrative data on SHG membership across districts in India with survey micro-data on labour force and employment outcomes of rural women between 2011 and 2019. Using a generalized…
Women’s Work – Routes to Social and Economic Empowerment: Introduction to the Special Issue
Norms that matter: Exploring the distribution of women’s work between income generation, expenditure-saving and unpaid domestic responsibilities in India
The Impact of an Adult Education Program for Mothers: Evidence from India
We use a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impacts of an adult education program, targeting mothers in rural India, on investments in health and education of one’s children and family 1 year later. The program increased involvement in their children’s education (but did not affect schooling outcomes) and impacted investment in family health and hygiene practices. We note that the program made the mothers more knowledgeable about health …
Handbook on Economics of Discrimination and Affirmative Action
How India’s Caste Inequality Has Persisted—and Deepened in the Pandemic
The economic impact of COVID-19 has been much harder on those at the bottom of the caste ladder in India, reflecting the persistence of a system of social stigmatization that many Indians believe is a thing of the past. Untouchability has been outlawed since 1947, and an affirmative action program has lowered some barriers for stigmatized caste groups. But during the pandemic, members of lower castes suffered heavier job losses due to their highe…
Early childhood stunting and later life outcomes: A longitudinal analysis
The Covid-19 pandemic and gendered division of paid work, domestic chores and leisure: Evidence from India’s first wave
Can weak ties create social capital? Evidence from Self-Help Groups in rural India
Traditional hierarchies and affirmative action in a globalizing economy: Evidence from India
Local Social Inequality, Economic Inequality, and Disparities in Child Height in India
This study investigates disparities in child height—an important marker of population-level health—among population groups in rural India. India is an informative context in which to study processes of health disparities because of wide heterogeneity in the degree of local segregation or integration among caste groups. Building on a literature that identifies discrimination by quantifying whether differences in socioeconomic status (SES) can acco…
Double Jeopardy? Stigma of Identity and Affirmative Action
This article seeks to understand stigma faced by students from groups who enter higher educational institutions on the basis of affirmative action. The article uses the theoretical insights from the “stereotype content model” which disentangles the social-psychological mechanisms of “externalization” and “internalization.” The data are from a primary survey administered to university students in India to understand the channel of stigma associate…
Bad Karma or Discrimination? Male–Female Wage Gaps Among Salaried Workers in India
The Impact of a Computer-based Adult Literacy Program on Literacy and Numeracy: Evidence from India
Double jeopardy?: Caste, affirmative action, and stigma
This paper presents the results of an attitude survey administered to university students in India that attempts to delineate the social–psychological mechanisms of ‘externalization’ and ‘internalization’ to understand the possible consequences of stigma associated with caste-based affirmative action (AA). Despite a significant gap in entry scores at admission to a higher educational institution, no significant differences are found in the effort…
Disadvantage and discrimination in self-employment: Caste gaps in earnings in Indian small businesses
Using the 2004–2005 India Human Development Survey data, we estimate and decompose the earnings of household businesses owned by historically marginalized social groups known as Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SCSTs) and non-SCSTs across the earnings distribution. We find clear differences in characteristics between the two types of businesses with the former faring significantly worse. The mean decomposition reveals that as much as 55 % of the cast…
Who Is the Identifiable Victim? Caste and Charitable Giving in Modern India
Economists are increasingly studying the market for charitable giving, including behavioral aspects. In the “identifiable victim effect” people donate more to help identified individuals than groups. However, individuals from socially low-ranking groups may not prompt similar charity. The continuing depth of caste-based prejudice in contemporary India is widely debated. We report three randomized experiments conducted with computer-using Indian p…
Affirmative Action and Productivity in the Indian Railways
Critics of affirmative action policies often claim that increasing the representation of members of marginalized communities in jobs comes at the cost of reduced productive efficiency. This paper reports on a systematic empirical analysis of productivity in the Indian Railways - the world's largest employer subject to affirmative action - in which we examined whether or not higher proportions of affirmative action beneficiaries in employment redu…
Does Affirmative Action Reduce Productivity? A Case Study of the Indian Railways
The Grammar of Caste: Economic Discrimination in Contemporary India
This book examines the contemporary nature of caste disparities in India by using a framework that integrates discussions on caste from other social science disciplines with those from within economics. It brings together quantitative evidence on different dimensions of caste disparities based on two large national-level data sets, in order to analyse the degree of change in the caste system over the last two decades. Offering evidence based on e…
Assets versus Autonomy? The Changing Face of the Gender-Caste Overlap in India
Inter-group disparity in India is multifaceted; this paper focuses on gender and caste as two important indicators of disadvantage. An assessment of the contemporary state of the gender-caste overlap suggests that the economic condition of women continues to be defined and constrained by their caste status. At the same time, the traditional distinction between lower caste and upper caste women, based on the relative egalitarianism and greater fre…
Norms that matter: Exploring the distribution of women’s work between income generation, expenditure-saving and unpaid domestic responsibilities in India
Traditional hierarchies and affirmative action in a globalizing economy: Evidence from India
Local Social Inequality, Economic Inequality, and Disparities in Child Height in India
This study investigates disparities in child height—an important marker of population-level health—among population groups in rural India. India is an informative context in which to study processes of health disparities because of wide heterogeneity in the degree of local segregation or integration among caste groups. Building on a literature that identifies discrimination by quantifying whether differences in socioeconomic status (SES) can acco…
Does Affirmative Action Reduce Productivity? A Case Study of the Indian Railways
The Covid-19 pandemic and gendered division of paid work, domestic chores and leisure: Evidence from India’s first wave
Double Jeopardy? Stigma of Identity and Affirmative Action
This article seeks to understand stigma faced by students from groups who enter higher educational institutions on the basis of affirmative action. The article uses the theoretical insights from the “stereotype content model” which disentangles the social-psychological mechanisms of “externalization” and “internalization.” The data are from a primary survey administered to university students in India to understand the channel of stigma associate…
Overlapping Identities under Liberalization: Gender and Caste in India
This article reviews the major theories on identity and economic outcomes to reiterate that identity affects the material well‐being of individuals. Based on two rounds of data from the National Family and Health Survey, this article attempts to examine changes in two of the several identities in India, namely, the gender‐caste overlap. The Gender‐Caste Development Index (GCDI) from an earlier exercise is used to assess changes in the material st…
Recasting Economic Inequality
Arguing that it is necessary to refine the study of Indian inequality by studying patterns of inter group disparity, this essay highlights the salience of caste for this purpose. Outlining the imperatives of an economic enquiry into contemporary caste inequality, the essay critically reviews the small body of the theoretical and empirical work, attempting to highlight the different theoretical perspectives that underlie the literature
The debt overhang and the disincentive to invest
Can weak ties create social capital? Evidence from Self-Help Groups in rural India
Bad Karma or Discrimination? Male–Female Wage Gaps Among Salaried Workers in India
The Impact of a Computer-based Adult Literacy Program on Literacy and Numeracy: Evidence from India
Who Is the Identifiable Victim? Caste and Charitable Giving in Modern India
Economists are increasingly studying the market for charitable giving, including behavioral aspects. In the “identifiable victim effect” people donate more to help identified individuals than groups. However, individuals from socially low-ranking groups may not prompt similar charity. The continuing depth of caste-based prejudice in contemporary India is widely debated. We report three randomized experiments conducted with computer-using Indian p…
An Indian Enigma? Labour market impacts of the world’s largest livelihoods program
We examine the labour market impacts of the largest livelihoods programs in the world, India’s Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). A key aspect of this program is to mobilize rural women into self-help groups (SHGs). We combine administrative data on SHG membership across districts in India with survey micro-data on labour force and employment outcomes of rural women between 2011 and 2019. Using a generalized…
Who Is Eligible? Should Affirmative Action be Group- or Class-Based: Who Is Eligible
We explore the consequences for eligibility of members of subaltern groups for affirmative action (AA), when AA policies are based on social class criteria rather than on group affiliation (race, ethnicity, or gender), by means of a general model with simplifying assumptions. The model is developed first for the case where everyone eligible for AA becomes a beneficiary, and then for the case where beneficiaries are only those eligibles who are ab…
Discriminatory social norms and early childhood development
A Useful Intervention
The Role of Foreign Capital in Chinese Reforms: A Survey
The debt overhang and the disincentive to invest
Continuing the Open Door Policy: Promoting Capitalism
Does Caste Still Define Disparity? A Look at Inequality in Kerala, India
Recasting Economic Inequality
Arguing that it is necessary to refine the study of Indian inequality by studying patterns of inter group disparity, this essay highlights the salience of caste for this purpose. Outlining the imperatives of an economic enquiry into contemporary caste inequality, the essay critically reviews the small body of the theoretical and empirical work, attempting to highlight the different theoretical perspectives that underlie the literature
Intergroup Economic Inequality Across Countries: An lntroductory Essay
Increased research attention is now being given to understanding patterns of and ethnic economic inequality across countries (see Nesiah 1997; Darity 1998; Darity and Nembhard 2000; Darity and Deshpande 2000). Among the major general findings that have emerged from these recent comparative inquiries are the following: 1 Countries with a lower general level of income inequality do not necessarily display lower levels of intergroup inequality 2 Int…
Assets versus Autonomy? The Changing Face of the Gender-Caste Overlap in India
Inter-group disparity in India is multifaceted; this paper focuses on gender and caste as two important indicators of disadvantage. An assessment of the contemporary state of the gender-caste overlap suggests that the economic condition of women continues to be defined and constrained by their caste status. At the same time, the traditional distinction between lower caste and upper caste women, based on the relative egalitarianism and greater fre…
Tale of Two Cities: Regional Inequality in China on the Eve of its Entry into WTO
Boundaries of clan and color: An introduction
Boundaries of Clan and Color: Transnational Comparisons of Inter-Group Disparity
1. Ashwini Deshpande and William Darity Jr. Boundaries of Clan and Color: An Introduction 2. Peggy A. Lovell Race, Gender and Regional Labour Market Inequalities in Brazil 3. Morton Stelcner Earnings Differentials Among Ethnic Groups in Canada: A Review of the Research 4. Patrick L. Mason Understanding Recent Empirical Evidence on Race and Labor Market Outcomes in the USA 5. Samuel L. Myers Jr. If Not Reconciliation, Then What? 6. R. Quinn Moore …
Boundaries of Clan and Color: Transnational Comparisons of Inter-Group Disparity
Affirmative Action in India and the United States
Caste in India and race in the USA are often compared for their institutional similarities, and also because these categories form the social basis on which the affirmative action program in the two countries is based. While disadvantage and discrimination produce similar outcomes for certain groups within caste- or race-divided societies, it is important to understand the differences between the two systems. In India, affirmative action policies…
Perceived and observed neighborhood indicators of obesity among urban adults
Overlapping Identities under Liberalization: Gender and Caste in India
This article reviews the major theories on identity and economic outcomes to reiterate that identity affects the material well‐being of individuals. Based on two rounds of data from the National Family and Health Survey, this article attempts to examine changes in two of the several identities in India, namely, the gender‐caste overlap. The Gender‐Caste Development Index (GCDI) from an earlier exercise is used to assess changes in the material st…
The Grammar of Caste: Economic Discrimination in Contemporary India
This book examines the contemporary nature of caste disparities in India by using a framework that integrates discussions on caste from other social science disciplines with those from within economics. It brings together quantitative evidence on different dimensions of caste disparities based on two large national-level data sets, in order to analyse the degree of change in the caste system over the last two decades. Offering evidence based on e…
Who Is Eligible? Should Affirmative Action be Group- or Class-Based: Who Is Eligible
We explore the consequences for eligibility of members of subaltern groups for affirmative action (AA), when AA policies are based on social class criteria rather than on group affiliation (race, ethnicity, or gender), by means of a general model with simplifying assumptions. The model is developed first for the case where everyone eligible for AA becomes a beneficiary, and then for the case where beneficiaries are only those eligibles who are ab…
Does Affirmative Action Reduce Productivity? A Case Study of the Indian Railways
Affirmative Action and Productivity in the Indian Railways
Critics of affirmative action policies often claim that increasing the representation of members of marginalized communities in jobs comes at the cost of reduced productive efficiency. This paper reports on a systematic empirical analysis of productivity in the Indian Railways - the world's largest employer subject to affirmative action - in which we examined whether or not higher proportions of affirmative action beneficiaries in employment redu…
Double jeopardy?: Caste, affirmative action, and stigma
This paper presents the results of an attitude survey administered to university students in India that attempts to delineate the social–psychological mechanisms of ‘externalization’ and ‘internalization’ to understand the possible consequences of stigma associated with caste-based affirmative action (AA). Despite a significant gap in entry scores at admission to a higher educational institution, no significant differences are found in the effort…
Disadvantage and discrimination in self-employment: Caste gaps in earnings in Indian small businesses
Using the 2004–2005 India Human Development Survey data, we estimate and decompose the earnings of household businesses owned by historically marginalized social groups known as Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SCSTs) and non-SCSTs across the earnings distribution. We find clear differences in characteristics between the two types of businesses with the former faring significantly worse. The mean decomposition reveals that as much as 55 % of the cast…
Who Is the Identifiable Victim? Caste and Charitable Giving in Modern India
Economists are increasingly studying the market for charitable giving, including behavioral aspects. In the “identifiable victim effect” people donate more to help identified individuals than groups. However, individuals from socially low-ranking groups may not prompt similar charity. The continuing depth of caste-based prejudice in contemporary India is widely debated. We report three randomized experiments conducted with computer-using Indian p…
Bad Karma or Discrimination? Male–Female Wage Gaps Among Salaried Workers in India
The Impact of a Computer-based Adult Literacy Program on Literacy and Numeracy: Evidence from India
Traditional hierarchies and affirmative action in a globalizing economy: Evidence from India
Political science (26 works) · Economics (23 works) · Demographic economics (15 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Law (14 works) · Caste (12 works) · Geography (12 works) · Economic growth (11 works) · Affirmative action (9 works) · Demography (9 works)