Disadvantaged groups and social mobility

This project has three main objectives in line with UNU-WIDER’s tradition in the area of inclusion and horizontal inequality: (1) to shed further light on the extent to which inequalities run along ethnic, gender, and other communal lines; (2) to understand the determinants of such group-based inequalities, including the potential for change; and (3) to consider the impact of such inequalities on development and structural transformation.

The project is organized under two main components. The first addresses the question of what we have learnt so far about discrimination and affirmative action, and will focus on evaluating various affirmative-action policies that have been used to correct historical inequalities. The second focuses on the politics of group-based inequalities, distilling and developing key perspectives from political science and political economy.

Team

Focal points: Rachel M. Gisselquist, Saurabh Singhal

Research fellow: Carla Canelas

Assistant: Kati Hirvonen

Communications: Annett Victorero

 

Sub-projects

The politics of group-based inequalities – measurement, implications, and possibilities for change

Discrimination and affirmative action - what have we learnt so far?

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    Rachel M. Gisselquist is Professor in Governance and Development, and Director of the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (GSDRC), at the University of Birmingham (UoB), UK.Prior to joining UoB in September 2024, she was a Senior...

    Journal Article
    Participatory incentives

    We design a lab-in-the-field experiment involving naturally occurring groups operating in three South-African townships. We introduce an incentives-based mechanism named 'participatory incentives' consisting of monetary incentives that are awarded...

    Book Chapter
    Tackling intersecting inequalities

    A concern with absolute poverty, defined as a money-metric measure of the ability to meet basic subsistence needs, has occupied a central place within the international development agenda for much of its existence. Efforts in recent years to promote...

    Journal Article
    Participation of charity beneficiaries

    Anecdotal evidence suggests that involving beneficiaries in charity decision-making ensures better governance processes. This study provides the first experimental test of the effects of beneficiaries’ participation in the decision of how to spend a...

    Journal Article
    Stabbed in the back?

    This study provides the first country-wide research evidence that an affirmative action policy may induce a backlash. I exploit the timing of the implementation of castebased electoral quotas across and within the states of India. The results show...

    Journal Article
    Birth control, family size and educational stratification

    This study investigates the unexpected impact that enforcing birth control policies in China has upon the educational stratification between the Han majority, the policy target group, and ethnic minorities, a partially excluded group. Exploring...

    Journal Article
    Searching for religious discrimination among childcare workers

    We implement a lab-in-the-field experiment among childcare workers in Chandigarh, India, to evaluate discriminatory attitudes of the Hindu workers toward Muslim children. We use a third-party allocation game that controls for selfish payoff...

    Journal Article
    Improving maternal health care in a post-conflict setting

    We evaluate a development programme with an important maternal health care component in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The region and its mostly indigenous people experienced violent conflict in the past and face a constant risk of...

    Journal Special Issue
    Horizontal inequality in the Global South

    Inequality and social exclusion receive considerable contemporary policy attention. In the field of international development, inequality—both vertical (between individuals and households) and horizontal (between groups)—is a core concern in the 2030...

    Policy Brief
    Horizontal inequality

    Inequality—both vertical (between individuals and households) and horizontal (between groups)—is a core concern in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, despite considerable attention to horizontal inequality in both research and...

    Policy Brief
    Can legal empowerment help to address ethnic exclusion?

    ‘Legal empowerment’ is defined as a process of systemic change through which the poor and excluded become able to use the law to protect and advance their rights and interests as citizens and economic actors. Since the 2000s, legal empowerment...

    Journal Article
    Inequality in Education and Wealth in Tanzania

    Part of Journal Special Issue Horizontal inequality in the Global South

    Journal Article
    Iran’s Multi-ethnic Mosaic

    Part of Journal Special Issue Horizontal inequality in the Global South

    Journal Article
    Patronage and Public Goods Provisioning in an Unequal Land

    Part of Journal Special Issue Horizontal inequality in the Global South

    Journal Article
    Vertical and Horizontal Inequality in Ecuador

    Part of Journal Special Issue Horizontal inequality in the Global South

    Journal Article
    Does Horizontal Inequality Matter in Vietnam?

    Part of Journal Special Issue Horizontal inequality in the Global South

    Journal Article
    Inequality Between Whom?

    Part of Journal Special Issue Horizontal inequality in the Global South

    Journal Article
    Horizontal Inequality and Data Challenges

    Part of Journal Special Issue Horizontal inequality in the Global South

    Journal Article
    Occupational segregation by race in South Africa after Apartheid

    This paper investigates progress in reducing the high level of racial stratification of occupations after apartheid in South Africa. Empirical analysis, using census microdata and Labour Force Surveys, does not provide compelling evidence of...

    Journal Article
    Legal Empowerment and Horizontal Inequalities after Conflict

    Part of Journal Special Issue Legal Empowerment and Group-Based Inequality

    Journal Article
    Can Business Rights Alleviate Group-Based Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa?

    Part of Journal Special Issue Legal Empowerment and Group-Based Inequality

    Journal Article
    Using Legal Empowerment for Labour Rights in India

    Part of Journal Special Issue Legal Empowerment and Group-Based Inequality

    Journal Article
    Legal Empowerment of the Poor through Property Rights Reform

    Part of Journal Special Issue Legal Empowerment and Group-Based Inequality

    Journal Article
    Identity Documents, Welfare Enhancement, and Group Empowerment in the Global South

    Part of Journal Special Issue Legal Empowerment and Group-Based Inequality

    Journal Article
    Access to What?

    Part of Journal Special Issue Legal Empowerment and Group-Based Inequality

    Journal Article
    Legal Empowerment and Group-Based Inequality

    Part of Journal Special Issue Legal Empowerment and Group-Based Inequality

    Journal Special Issue
    Legal Empowerment and Group-Based Inequality

    The articles in the forthcoming special issue are already available online on full open access. The special issue will be officially published in March 2019, vol. 55, issue 3. Legal empowerment has become widely accepted in development policy circles...

    Journal Article
    Self-assessed vs. statistical evidence of racial discrimination

    This paper provides new insights on the labour market discrimination faced by indigenous Australians one of the most disadvantaged indigenous populations in developed countries. Combining two large, nationally representative datasets, we decompose...

    Blog
    Horizontal inequality: Exploring persistence and change

    A considerable body of recent research suggests that inequality between ethnic groups has major socioeconomic implications. ‘Economists have long...

    Journal Special Issue
    Horizontal Inequality: Persistence and Change

    A considerable body of research suggests that horizontal inequality between ethnic groups has major socioeconomic implications, in particular for peace and economic development. Much of this work focuses on horizontal inequality as an independent...

    Journal Article
    Does Implicit Bias Predict Dictator Giving?

    Implicit associations and biases are carried without awareness or conscious direction, yet there is reason to believe they may be influenced by social pressures. In this paper, I study social pressure as a motive to give, as well as giving itself...

    Journal Article
    Horizontal inequality as an outcome

    A considerable body of research suggests that horizontal inequality between ethnic groups has major socioeconomic implications, in particular for peace and economic development. Much of this work focuses on horizontal inequality as an independent...

    Displaying 32 of 140 results

    Context

    Main subject

    Theme: Past, 2014-15

    Keywords