Identifying Assumptions

One of the reasons why I specifically look at Muslims is, as compared to other marginalized groups in India—let’s say the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes—is primarily because there have been political reservation norms for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. There is a plethora of literature on how this reservation has impacted their development outcomes. I did not want my results to be confounded by political reservation as well as minority concentration. 

For example, I could have done the same exercise for, let’s say, Scheduled Castes. I could have looked at their constituency-level population share and their village-level population share. What I was afraid of is that they have reservation at multiple levels. There is reservation at the Panchayati Raj level. There is reservation at the constituency level. There is also reservation at the parliamentary constituency level. Especially at the Panchayati Raj, that keeps on changing. If I do not keep track of that, what exactly am I observing? 

Am I observing purely the change in Scheduled Caste concentration, or am I observing the impact of reservation? Or let’s say, even if it went out of reservation, there might be lasting impacts for that. To isolate the effect of simply the packing of minorities or cracking of minorities, I look at Muslims because historically there has been no political reservation for Muslims.

https://www.mercatus.org/ideasofindia/asad-tariq-electoral-redistricting-and-public-goods-provision-india

The identification strategy assumes that SC/ST political reservations leaves Muslims untouched. But quotas alter constituency leadership, fiscal priorities, and coalition politics, generating spillovers that shape all communities’ outcomes.