Can Elected Minority Representatives Affect Health Worker Visits? Evidence from India

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between elected minority representatives, i.e. Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) and health worker visits in rural India. We estimate the effect of minority representation on the frequency of visits to villages by health workers by exploiting the state variation in the share of seats reserved for the two minority groups in state legislative assemblies mandated by the Constitution of India. Using data from state and village level surveys on 15 major Indian states, we find that ST representatives increase the frequency of visits by both doctors and mobile medical units. In contrast, SC representatives have a tendency to decrease the frequency of visits by mobile medical units. Potential explanations for the differential impact of SC and ST representatives are also explored, including geographic isolation, support for the Congress Party, a shift in power, and relative population shares.

Do Scheduled Caste Reservations for Political Office Improve the Lives of Dalits?

“…Several recent papers extend this scholarship by looking at the impact of reservations on less obvious development-related outcomes at the state level. Kaletski and Prakash (2016) examine the impact of state-level reservation on child labor in India, and in turn focus on the impact of reservations on health worker visits (Kaletski and Prakash 2017). Finally, Chon-Kit and Chatterjee (2018) explore the impact of political reservations on credit access and borrowing composition.…”

Affirmative action policy in developing countries: Lessons learned and a way forward

“…The results indicate that SCs see an increase of 0.3 years of education, with males enjoying all of the effects, and little impact for females. Further, this increase in education appears to result in an increase in both literacy and numeracy, despite the questionable quality of some public educational facilities (Cassan 2014 Further, Kaletski and Prakash (2016) continue the focus on public service delivery by using data from state and village level surveys on fifteen major Indian states to show that ST representatives increase the frequency of visits by both doctors and mobile medical units. On the other hand, SC representatives have a tendency to decrease the frequency of visits by mobile medical units, though the results for SCs are less robust.…”