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Elite Dominance and Under-Investment in Mass Education: Disparity in the Social Development of the Indian States, 1960-92

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  • Pal, Sarmistha

    (University of Surrey)

  • Ghosh, Sugata

    (Brunel University)

Abstract

Inter- and intra-state disparities in levels of literacy rates in India are striking, especially for the marginalized groups of women and low caste population. The present paper offers an explanation of this disparate development in terms of elite dominance that discriminates against the minority groups of people and systematically under-invests in mass education. We experiment with various indirect economic and political measures of elite dominance. Results based on the Indian state-level data for the period 1960-92 suggest that higher share of land held by the top 5% of the population (a) lowers spending on education as well as total developmental spending and (b) increases total non-developmental spending. Greater proportion of minority representations (female and low caste members) in the ruling government however fails to have any perceptible impact on development (including education) spending in our sample. This analysis also identifies land reform and poverty alleviation as two important policy instruments to erode the initial disadvantage of the marginalised people.

Suggested Citation

  • Pal, Sarmistha & Ghosh, Sugata, 2007. "Elite Dominance and Under-Investment in Mass Education: Disparity in the Social Development of the Indian States, 1960-92," IZA Discussion Papers 2852, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2852
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    Cited by:

    1. Pal, Sarmistha, 2010. "Public infrastructure, location of private schools and primary school attainment in an emerging economy," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 783-794, October.
    2. Sarmistha Pal, 2008. "Public Infrastructure, Location of Private Schools and Quality of Schooling in an Emerging Economy," CEDI Discussion Paper Series 08-05, Centre for Economic Development and Institutions(CEDI), Brunel University.
    3. Kingsley U. Ejiogu & Thomas S. Mosley, 2017. "Local Neocolonialism and Terrorism in Africa," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(2), pages 21582440176, April.
    4. Latika Chaudhary & Manuj Garg, 2015. "Does history matter? Colonial education investments in India," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(3), pages 937-961, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    under-investment in education; discrimination against female and low-caste population; persistence of elite dominance; poverty; land reform;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies

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