Polarization, inequality and growth: The Indian experience

Type Working Paper - Society for the Study of Economic Inequality Working Papers Series
Title Polarization, inequality and growth: The Indian experience
Author(s)
Volume No. 225
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2011
URL http://www.igidr.ac.in/faculty/sripad/Motiram_Sarma_Polarization.pdf
Abstract
We analyze polarization in India roughly in the past three decades using consumption expenditure data. We show that both bipolarization and multidimensional polarization (on several dimensions: caste, rural-urban, state, region) have increased since the 1990s. In the case of bipolarization, this is a reversal from the earlier trend (in the 1980s). Overall, our results suggest that the high growth that India has been witnessing since the 1990s has been associated with widening disparities. Comparing polarization and inequality trends, we find similarities, but also some differences; we also show how the study of polarization can provide different insights. Our results therefore underscore the importance of studying polarization as distinct from traditional inequality.

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