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December 10, 2024, Paper: "Reparations have been proposed to remedy enduring inequalities between racial or ethnic groups, but little is known about the social and political consequences of such policies. We conduct the first study of caste-based reparations by evaluating a program that provides a one-time wealth transfer of 1 million rupees ($12,000) to Dalit households in Telangana, India. We test competing theoretical expectations of advancement, persistence, and retrenchment using a natural experiment and original survey of 3,184 households. The program improved Dalit asset ownership and narrowed the gap with non-Dalits. It increased Dalits’ confidence in engaging dominant castes and reduced caste conflict, against the expectation of social backlash. However, segregation norms persisted, and dominant castes expressed reduced support for affirmative action and credit subsidies for Dalits, indicating policy backlash. Our study shows that group-targeted wealth transfers can enhance the socioeconomic status of marginalized communities while highlighting varied forms of backlash among dominant groups."