How Backward are the Other Backward Classes? Changing Contours of Caste Disadvantage in India

We trace changes in standard-of-living indicators across the three broad caste groups in India in order to comment on the evolution of the relative ranking of "Other Backward Classes" (OBCs). Employing a difference-in-diffrences strategy and analyzing individuals born between 1926-1985, we and convergence in primary and secondary education, but continued divergence in higher education. Younger cohorts of OBCs converge with upper castes in wages and white-collar jobs. The extension of affirmative action increases the share of OBCs with government jobs and secondary education, though increased political representation does not seem to be correlated with better outcomes.