43% of workers refuse to spend 10 min working on tasks associated with other castes, even when offered ten times their daily wage; identity may be an important constraint on labor supply, contributing to misallocation of talent

Does Identity Affect Labor Supply? Suanna Oh. Nov 2019. https://www.suannaoh.com/research

Abstract: Does identity—one's concept of self—influence economic behavior in the labor market? I investigate this question in rural India, focusing on the effect of caste identity on labor supply. In a field experiment, casual laborers belonging to different castes choose whether to take up various real job offers. All offers involve working on a default manufacturing task and an additional task. The additional task changes across offers, is performed in private, and differs in its association with specific castes. Workers' average take-up rate of offers is 23 percentage points lower if offers involve working on tasks that are associated with castes other than their own. This gap increases to 47 pp if the castes associated with the relevant offers rank lower than workers' own in the caste hierarchy. Responses to job offers are invariant to whether or not workers' choices are publicized, suggesting that the role of identity itself—rather than social image—is paramount. Using a supplementary experiment, I show that 43% of workers refuse to spend ten minutes working on tasks associated with other castes, even when offered ten times their daily wage. This paper's findings indicate that identity may be an important constraint on labor supply, contributing to misallocation of talent in the economy.


B.5 Vignette questions related to caste sensitivity

The following questions were used during the follow-up survey to determine caste sensitivity. Participants answered on a 5-point-scale indicating their approval or disapproval.

1. Sameer Jena went to Khorda recently to find work. There he met Sarveshwara Barik, who has been a barber in the area for 10 years. Sarveshwara has been looking for someone to take over the work and offered Sameer the job. Do you think it is acceptable for Sameer to become a barber even though he is from a higher caste?

2. Tukuna Naika is from the Hadi caste. He is currently looking for work in villages around him. Recently a contractor offered him work in his catering business, where Tukuna will be required to serve food to guests at functions. Do you feel it is acceptable for Tukuna to perform this task?

3. Shantilatha Sahoo is currently in the last year of college. She goes to college with a friend Nilakanth Sethi. They have been friends ever since childhood and Shantilatha likes Nilakanth very much. She wants to marry him but her village finds this relationship unacceptable as Shantilatha is from a higher caste and Nilakanth is from a lower caste. Do you think it is acceptable for a higher caste woman to marry a lower caste man?

4. Gagan Dalai has not been finding enough work in his village recently. He is very worried for his family. A contractor had recently come to the village and offered him 7 days’ work in another village. The contractor offered him Rs.350/day for cleaning sewage tanks. Gagan refused the job as it is lower caste work. Do you think Gagan did the right thing?

5. Kartik Behera and Tuna Naika are both agricultural laborers. They work together for the same landlord and in the evenings they come back to the village together. Once, when they were returning to the village, Tuna offered some home-made sweets to Kartik. A senior village member saw this and reprimanded Kartik for eating the sweets because Tuna Naika is of a lower caste. Do you think it’s wrong for a higher caste person to accept home-cooked food from a lower caste person?

6. Bindusagar Behera and Rabi Naika have been friends since childhood. Whenever Rabi went to meet Bindusagar, he was not allowed to enter Bindusagar’s house. They would talk outside Bindusagar’s house. Now Bindusagar is getting married and he has invited Rabi to be a part of the marriage festivities. During the wedding, Rabi sits separately to eat (according to his caste). Do you think these village norms are acceptable as Rabi is from a lower caste?

7. Nerua Naika has recently finished secondary school and is looking for a job. He lives near Ramesh Maharana who is a carpenter. Ramesh offers to train Nerua in carpentry so that he can work with him. Do you think Nerua should try to work as a carpenter although he is from a lower caste?