Growing Inequalities in India

• In Event: 286 - Section on Sociology of Development Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Paper Session: Table 03. Inequality

Abstract

Indian economic growth in the last two decades has impressed the world. We use just-available panel data from the India Human Development Survey to document the contours of economic growth with a nationally representative sample of approximately 40,000 households. While the vast majority of households benefited from India’s economic growth, inequality has also risen. Gini coefficients for income and consumption have risen 1 to 4 points between 2004-5 and 2011-12. And on almost every dimension of advantage – human capital, social capital, current employment, caste and religious community, geographical location – households from groups who were more advanced in 2005-6 moved ahead faster than equivalently placed households from less advantaged groups. Nevertheless, overall, households in the bottom half of the income distribution made more progress than those at the top, so several disadvantaged groups (e.g., OBCs, Dalits, rural residents, illiterates, agriculture wage labor) reduced their income gaps with more advantaged groups.

Authors

• Reeve Vanneman, University of Maryland

• Sonalde Desai, University of Maryland