Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Interactions within neighborhoods have been shown to have an effect on both short and long term outcomes. Moreover, there is evidence to show that mixing between different groups allows for less hostile attitudes towards other groups. I examine the effect of inter caste interaction on attitudes towards discrimination, using a unique individual level data from public housing in the city of Pune, India. The context I study is the relocation of slum dwellers under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), a national level urban redevelopment program in India. Under this program, slum dwellers were randomly assigned to housing in two relocation sites within the city of Pune in India via a lottery system. I exploit variation in caste identity of neighbors among intended beneficiary households, resulting from random assignment within the new location, to identify the causal effect of living next to a neighbor belonging to a different caste group on attitudes towards other social groups. My findings are suggestive of an affirmation of the contact hypothesis, wherein greater exposure to members of different caste and sub caste groups leads to less discriminatory attitudes.

The group I analyze are erstwhile slum dwellers, who are randomly assigned to new apartments in locations at the periphery of the city without being able to choose location of stay or location within the relocation site. Those who win the lottery get their house numbers assigned to them immediately and are asked to move in within six months of winning the lottery. I use data collected through interviews of 692 adults in 219 households, on their baseline characteristics and responses to questions on attitudes. Exposure to increased caste diversity leads to a significant increase in trust in members of another caste, greater tolerance for inter caste marriage, and an overall belief in increase in caste injustice. There is an additional increase in support for inter caste marriage if the individual is exposed to caste diversity for a longer period of time. When repeating the analysis for sub castes, I find an increase in the importance given to affirmative action among sub castes within the lower caste group. These results are robust to alternate specifications and the inclusion of various individual level characteristics. My research contributes to the literature on the causal effect of inter group interactions on measures of trust, altruism and attitudes relating to discrimination, as well as the unintended consequences of slum relocation programs, in a developing country context.