Recent research has established the importance of perceived (as opposed to actual) returns as a determinant of educational investments. We analyze data from India to highlight gender disparities in the perceived returns to education and the salience of productive characteristics.

In Uttar Pradesh, teams of four are engaged to dig soil under the NREGA programme. In one treatment spouses work together; in the other treatment they work in separate teams. Working with spouses is associated with significantly higher output.

I examine the distribution dynamics of incomes across Indian states using the entire income distribution. Unlike standard regression approaches, this approach allows us to identify specific distributional characteristics such as polarisation and stratification. The period between 1965 to 1997...