Intergenerational Transmission of Advantage in a Caste Society. Sibling Similarity in Education in India

Mathieu Ferry, Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University
Patrick Präg , CREST, ENSAE, Institut Polytechnique de Paris

India has experienced massive economic growth and educational expansion, but has its social mobility increased in the last decades? To address this question, we examine the sibling similarity in educational attainment in the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI, 2017-19) for the birth cohorts from the 1960's to the 1990's. Sibling correlations are a broad measure of social mobility that captures both observed as well as unobserved aspects of the family background and are thus better suited than parent-offspring correlations, which can only draw on observed information. The sibling correlation in education in India is around .7, considerably higher than in most other countries. We find no discernable trend towards lower sibling correlations in education across birth cohorts. The highest sibling correlation is found among Muslims in India, the lowest among those from highly-educated families. We discuss implications and explain future plans for out study.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session P1. Fertility, Family, Life Course