(Fixed) identity salience and role model primes: impacts on collective action in rural India

Individual level data from a lab-in-the-field public goods experiment in Uttar Pradesh India to understand how social identity related to caste membership affects public goods provision among homogenous caste groups. We observe a significant "caste gap" in contributions with members from the upper caste contribute significantly more than low caste individuals to members of their own group, possibly as a result of lower levels of intra-group trust among low caste individuals. We also explore whether a role model prime helps mitigate this gap and find that positive role models promote contributions for both groups, but more for low-caste individuals.