Does Political Affirmative Action Work, and for Whom? Theory and Evidence on India's Scheduled Areas

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift/Konferencebidrag i tidsskrift /Bidrag til avis › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

Standard

Does Political Affirmative Action Work, and for Whom? Theory and Evidence on India's Scheduled Areas. / Gulzar, Saad; Haas, Nicholas; Pasquale, Benjamin.
I: American Political Science Review, Bind 114, Nr. 4, 11.2020, s. 1230-1246.

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift/Konferencebidrag i tidsskrift /Bidrag til avis › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

Vancouver

Gulzar S, Haas N, Pasquale B. Does Political Affirmative Action Work, and for Whom? Theory and Evidence on India's Scheduled Areas. American Political Science Review. 2020 nov.;114(4):1230-1246. Epub 2020. doi: 10.1017/S0003055420000532

Author

Gulzar, Saad ; Haas, Nicholas ; Pasquale, Benjamin. / Does Political Affirmative Action Work, and for Whom? Theory and Evidence on India's Scheduled Areas. I: American Political Science Review. 2020 ; Bind 114, Nr. 4. s. 1230-1246.

Bibtex

@article{2467b5c291ae460f92d7a2a4e24fa3ea,

title = "Does Political Affirmative Action Work, and for Whom? Theory and Evidence on India's Scheduled Areas",

abstract = "Does political affirmative action undermine or promote development? We present the first systematic analysis of Scheduled Areas in India, home to 100 million citizens, where local political office is reserved for the historically disadvantaged Scheduled Tribes. A newly constructed dataset of 217,000 villages allows us to probe conflicting hypotheses on the implementation of the world's largest workfare program, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. We find that reservations deliver no worse overall outcomes, that there are large gains for targeted minorities, and that these gains come at the cost of the relatively privileged, not other minorities. We also find improvements in other pro-poor programs, including a rural roads program and general public goods. Reservations more closely align benefits to each group's population share, allaying concerns of overcompensation for inequalities. Contrary to the expectations of skeptics, results indicate that affirmative action can redistribute both political and economic power without hindering overall development.",

keywords = "CASTE, ELECTORAL QUOTAS, INSTITUTIONS, LOCAL-POLITICS, REPRESENTATION",

author = "Saad Gulzar and Nicholas Haas and Benjamin Pasquale",

year = "2020",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1017/S0003055420000532",

language = "English",

volume = "114",

pages = "1230--1246",

journal = "American Political Science Review",

issn = "0003-0554",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

number = "4",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Does Political Affirmative Action Work, and for Whom? Theory and Evidence on India's Scheduled Areas

AU - Gulzar, Saad

AU - Haas, Nicholas

AU - Pasquale, Benjamin

PY - 2020/11

Y1 - 2020/11

N2 - Does political affirmative action undermine or promote development? We present the first systematic analysis of Scheduled Areas in India, home to 100 million citizens, where local political office is reserved for the historically disadvantaged Scheduled Tribes. A newly constructed dataset of 217,000 villages allows us to probe conflicting hypotheses on the implementation of the world's largest workfare program, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. We find that reservations deliver no worse overall outcomes, that there are large gains for targeted minorities, and that these gains come at the cost of the relatively privileged, not other minorities. We also find improvements in other pro-poor programs, including a rural roads program and general public goods. Reservations more closely align benefits to each group's population share, allaying concerns of overcompensation for inequalities. Contrary to the expectations of skeptics, results indicate that affirmative action can redistribute both political and economic power without hindering overall development.

AB - Does political affirmative action undermine or promote development? We present the first systematic analysis of Scheduled Areas in India, home to 100 million citizens, where local political office is reserved for the historically disadvantaged Scheduled Tribes. A newly constructed dataset of 217,000 villages allows us to probe conflicting hypotheses on the implementation of the world's largest workfare program, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. We find that reservations deliver no worse overall outcomes, that there are large gains for targeted minorities, and that these gains come at the cost of the relatively privileged, not other minorities. We also find improvements in other pro-poor programs, including a rural roads program and general public goods. Reservations more closely align benefits to each group's population share, allaying concerns of overcompensation for inequalities. Contrary to the expectations of skeptics, results indicate that affirmative action can redistribute both political and economic power without hindering overall development.

KW - CASTE

KW - ELECTORAL QUOTAS

KW - INSTITUTIONS

KW - LOCAL-POLITICS

KW - REPRESENTATION

U2 - 10.1017/S0003055420000532

DO - 10.1017/S0003055420000532

M3 - Journal article

VL - 114

SP - 1230

EP - 1246

JO - American Political Science Review

JF - American Political Science Review

SN - 0003-0554

IS - 4

ER -

Institut for Statskundskab