A (paid) passage to India: Migration and revealed willingness to pay for upper‐caste status
利用斐济契约印度人支付返印费用的独特数据，计算历史上高种姓个体为维持种姓身份愿意支付的金额，发现北印度最高种姓的支付意愿下限接近2.5年总工资，且效应完全由男性驱动。
Abstract How much are individuals willing to pay for privileged status in a society with systemic discrimination? Utilizing unique data on indentured Indians in Fiji paying to return to India, I calculate how much upper‐caste individuals were willing to pay historically for their status. I show the lower bound of the value of the uppermost castes in north India equaled almost 2.5 years' gross wages. The ordering follows hypothesized inter‐caste hierarchies and shows diminishing effects as caste status falls. Men entirely drive the effects. My results show some of the first evidence quantifying caste status values and speak to caste's persistence.