Social Heterogeneity and Economic Mobility

This paper aims to examine the link between ethnic heterogeneity within a locality and inter-generational occupational mobility of its residents. We see that the more mixed/heterogeneous the locality (in terms of caste), the higher the odds of upward occupational mobility, possibly as a result of positive inter-group contact. Further, we see that in case of more homogeneous localities, if the predominant population belongs to the privileged caste, they are more likely to be concentrated in high skilled, high wage jobs. On the other hand, homogeneous localities with predominantly less privileged caste residents, show a shifting concentration towards lower skilled, lower paid jobs. The observations of this paper may provide another perspective on why the historically and conventionally privileged section of the society might keep flourishing under the existing societal paradigm, while the marginalised section would always need to pay a higher cost of movement to access information and opportunities.