Publication

Electoral quotas for marginalized castes and tribes in India, like ethnic quotas more generally, are often expected to boost the distribution of material benefits to disadvantaged groups. Yet, the presence of an ethnic quota does not imply that political mobilization takes place along ethnic lines: quotas may even create incentives for the formation of more inclusive multiethnic parties, since all parties must run candidates from particular ethnic categories to contest ethnically-reserved seats. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of quotas for the presidencies of village councils in the state of Karnataka, using a randomized regression-discontinuity design to isolate the effects of quotas.