Incentive to discriminate? An experimental investigation of teacher incentives in India

Jain, Tarun and Narayan, Tulika (2011): Incentive to discriminate? An experimental investigation of teacher incentives in India.

Abstract

We address the challenge of designing performance-based incentive schemes for schoolteachers. When teachers specialize in different subjects in a society with social prejudice, performance-based pay that depends on the average of student performance can cause teachers to coordinate their effort on high status students. Laboratory experiments conducted in India with future teachers as subjects show that performance-based pay causes teachers to decrease effort in low caste Hindu students compared to upper caste Hindu or Muslim students. We observe greater effort and lower variation in an incentive design where teachers are penalized if students receive zero scores.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Teacher incentives; Laboratory experiments; Coordination games; Discrimination
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I28 - Government Policy; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J15 - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants ; Non-labor Discrimination; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C9 - Design of Experiments > C91 - Laboratory, Individual Behavior; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I22 - Educational Finance ; Financial Aid

References

Akerlof, G. and R. Kranton (2000). Economics and identity. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115, 715–753.

Andreoni, J. (1990). Impure altruism and donations to public goods: A theory of warm-glow giving. Economic Journal 100(401), 464–477.

Attewell, P. and S. Thorat (2007). The legacy of social exclusion: A correspondence study of job discrimination in India. Economic and Political Weekly 42(41), 4141–4145.

Ball, S. and P. Cech (1996). Subject pool choice and treatment effects in economic laboratory research. In M. Isaac (Ed.), Research in Experimental Economics, Volume 6, pp. 239–292. Cambridge MA: Emerald Publishing.

Bandiera, O., I. Barankay, and I. Rasul (2007). Incentives for managers and inequality among workers: Evidence from a firm-level experiment. Quarterly Journal of Economics 122(2), 729–773.

Banerjee, A., M. Bertrand, S. Datta, and S. Mullainathan (2008). Labor market discrimination in Delhi: Evidence from a field experiment. Journal of Comparative Economics 37(1), 14–27.

Basu, K. (2006). Participatory equity, identity and productivity: Policy implications for promoting development. BREAD Working Paper No. 119.

Bauer, M., J. Chytilova, and J. Morduch (2008). Behavioral foundations of microcredit: Experimental and survey evidence from rural India. Available at ies.fsv.cuni.cz/default/file/download/id/9325.

Bruegmann, E. and K. Jackson (2009). Teaching students and teaching each other: The importance of peer learning for teachers. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 1(4), 85–108.

Cadsby, C. and E. Maynes (1998). Choosing between a socially efficient and free-riding equilibrium: Nurses versus economics and business students. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 37(2), 183–192.

Carell, S., B. Sacerdote, and J. West (2011). From natural variation to optimal policy? The Lucas Critique meets peer effects. NBER Working Paper 16865.

Desai, S. and V. Kulkarni (2008). Changing educational inequalities in India in the context of affirmative action. Demography 45(2), 245–270.

Deshpande, A. (2006). The eternal debate. Economic and Political Weekly 41(24), 2444–2446.

Fehr, E., K. Hoff, and M. Kshetramade (2005). Spite and development. American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 98(2), 494–499.

Fischbacher, U. (2007). z-Tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments. Experimental Economics 10(2), 171–178.

Glewwe, P., N. Ilias, and M. Kremer (2010). Teacher incentives. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2(3), 205–227.

Govt. of India (2006). Social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community in India. Available at http://minorityaffairs.gov.in/newsite/sachar/sachar_comm.pdf

Hanna, R. and L. Linden (2009). Measuring discrimination in education. NBER Working Paper No. 15057.

Harrison, G. and J. List (2004). Field experiments. Journal of Economic Literature 42(2), 1009–1055.

Hoff, K. and P. Pandey (2006). Discrimination, social identity, and durable inequalities. American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings 96(2), 206–211.

Koedel, C. (2009). An empirical analysis of teacher spillover effects in secondary school. Economics of Education Review 28(6), 682–692.

Lavy, V. (2002). Evaluating the effect of teachers group performance incentives on pupil achievement. Journal of Political Economy 110(6), 1286–317.

Muralidharan, K. and V. Sundararaman (2011). Teacher incentives in developing countries: Experimental evidence from India. Journal of Political Economy, forthcoming.

Neal, D. and D. Schanzenbach (2008). Left behind by design: Proficiency counts and test-based accountability. Review of Economics and Statistics, 92(2), 263–283.

Newman, K. and S. Thorat (2007). Caste and economic discrimination: Causes, consequences and remedies. Economic and Political Weekly 42(41), 4121–4124.

Pandey, P. (2005). Service delivery and capture in public schools: How does history matter and can mandated political representation reverse the effects of history? Mimeo, World Bank.

Phelps, E. (1972). The statistical theory of racism and sexism. American Economic Review 62(4), 659–661.

Sixth Central Pay Commission (2008). Formulating the concept, principles, and parameters for performance-related incentives (PRI) in government. Available at http://india.gov.in/govt/paycommission.php.

The PROBE Team (1999). Public report on basic education in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.