By Vartha Bharati
Bengaluru: A study has revealed that Dalit business owners in India earn, on average, 16 percent less than other business owners, including those from other disadvantaged communities. This income gap can be solely attributed to caste, according to the research paper titled ‘It’s not who you know, but who you are: Explaining income gaps of stigmatized-caste business owners in India’, which was published earlier this week in the research journal PLOS One.
The study by researchers from India, the UK, and Australia found that social capital—a measure of “whom you know,” often considered beneficial in various situations, including business—did not significantly improve the incomes of Dalit business owners.
The study employed three analytical techniques, all yielding similar results: there is a 15 to 18 percent income gap between Dalit business owners and others, which can be attributed solely to caste and not other factors like whether they live in urban or rural areas, their education, family background, or land ownership, according to Prateek Raj, an assistant professor at the IIM-Bangalore and lead member of the research team, as noted in the Telegraph.
The analysis revealed that business owners from other disadvantaged groups, such as Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Tribes, or Muslims, benefited from social capital, suggesting that those with more social capital had higher income levels. However, for Dalits (Scheduled Castes), social capital had a much smaller impact, amplifying income disparities compared to others with the same levels of social capital.
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