Economics Working Papers
Publication Date
6-18-2020
Number
20009
Abstract
Since 1950, India has been implementing the most comprehensive affirmative action program in the world. Vertical reservations are provided to members of historically discriminated Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC). Horizontal reservations are provided for other disadvantaged groups, such as women and disabled people, within each vertical category. There is no well-defined procedure to implement horizontal reservations jointly with vertical reservation and OBC de-reservations. Sequential processes currently in use for OBC de-reservations and meritorious reserve candidates lead to severe shortcomings. Most importantly, indirect mechanisms currently used in practice do not some allow reserve category applicants to fully express their preferences. To overcome these and other related issues, we design several different choice rules for institutions that take meritocracy, vertical and horizontal reservations, and OBC de-reservations into account. We propose a centralized mechanism to satisfactorily clear matching markets in India.
JEL Classification
C78, D47
Version History
Original Release Date: April 22, 2020
Revision: April 29, 2020
Latest Revision: June 18, 2020
Departments
Department of Economics, Iowa State University
File Format
application/pdf
Length
44 pages
Recommended Citation
Aygün, Orhan and Turhan, Bertan, "Direct Matching Mechanism Design for India with Comprehensive Affirmative Action" (2020). Economics Working Papers: Department of Economics, Iowa State University. 20009.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/econ_workingpapers/104
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