The redistributive effects of political reservation for minorities: Evidence from India

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chin, Aimee; Prakash, Nishith
• 署名单位: University of Houston System; University of Houston; Cornell University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2010.10.004
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 265-277
• 关键词: Affirmative action; poverty; minorities; INDIA

摘要

We examine the impact of political reservation for disadvantaged minority groups on poverty. To address the concern that political reservation is endogenous, we take advantage of the state-time variation in reservation in state legislative assemblies in India generated by national policies that cause reservations to be revised and the time lags with which revised reservations are implemented. Using data on sixteen major Indian states for the period 1960-2000, we find that increasing the share of seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes significantly reduces poverty while increasing the share of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes has no impact on poverty. Political reservation for Scheduled Tribes has a greater effect on rural poverty than urban poverty, and appears to benefit people near the poverty line as well as those far below it. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.