Jati Inequality in Rural Bihar
Caste is a persistent driver of inequality in India, and it is generally analyzed with government-defined broad categories, such as Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe. In everyday life, however, caste is lived and experienced as jati, which is a l...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/216201531237182176/Jati-inequality-in-rural-Bihar http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29985 |
| Summary: | Caste is a persistent driver of
inequality in India, and it is generally analyzed with
government-defined broad categories, such as Scheduled Caste
and Scheduled Tribe. In everyday life, however, caste is
lived and experienced as jati, which is a local system of
stratification. Little is known about economic inequality at
the jati level. This paper uses data from poor rural
districts in Bihar to explore expenditure inequality at the
jati level. Inequality decompositions show much more
variation between jatis than between broad caste categories.
The analysis finds that even within generally disadvantaged
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, some jatis are
significantly worse off than others. Consistent with
previous work, the paper also finds that inequality is
largely driven by inequality within jatis. This finding has
implications for the implementation of large-scale poverty
alleviation programs: the benefits of programs intended for
disadvantaged castes are concentrated among specific jatis. |
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