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Abstract

Using new administrative data from 3000 cities and over 100,000 urban neighborhoods, we study residential segregation in urban India. We focus on two historically marginalized groups: Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) and Muslims. On average, both groups are concentrated in poorer cities, but Muslims much more so.Cities with more Muslims are characterized by worse access to schools, doctors and public hospitals, while cities with more SC/STs have better access. Within cities, lower consumption and access to public goods characterize both SC/ST and Muslim neighborhoods. The extent of segregation in India is similar to that in U.S. cities. Cities segregated along religious lines are also segregated along caste lines. In contrast with the U.S., cities with fewer minorities are more segregated. Caste segregation is associated with worse economic outcomes for both SC/STs and non-SC/STs, but the latter to a lesser extent. SC/STs have worse access to public goods in more segregated cities.Younger cities are less segregated than older cities by caste but not religion, suggesting that caste may be decreasingly salient in urban areas. * We are grateful for stellar research assistance from Ryu Matsuura and Alison Campion, and for helpful discussions in seminars at the Center for Policy Research, Centre de Sciences Humaines, and IDinsight in Delhi. We expect equally constructive feedback from the Harvard Urban Development Workshop and the 2019 Fall NBER/BREAD Conference.