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Empowering Women: Inheritance Rights and Female Education in India

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  • Roy, Sanchari

    (University of Warwick)

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of property inheritance rights on education of women. Using plausibly exogenous variation created by amendments to female inheritance laws in India, I nd that exposure to improved inheritance rights increased mean female educational attainment by approximately one additional year. I also provide suggestive evidence that the mechanism behind such an e ect may be explained by the existence of complementarity between female inheritance rights and education in the context of household property management rather than by a relaxation of the household budget constraint owing to reduction in dowry payments following the reform.

Suggested Citation

  • Roy, Sanchari, 2011. "Empowering Women: Inheritance Rights and Female Education in India," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 46, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cge:wacage:46
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    File URL: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/manage/publications/46.2011_roy_revised.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kudo, Yuya, 2012. "Marriage as women's old age insurance : evidence from migration and land inheritance practices in rural Tanzania," IDE Discussion Papers 368, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    2. Lambert, Sylvie & Ravallion, Martin & van de Walle, Dominique, 2014. "Intergenerational mobility and interpersonal inequality in an African economy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 327-344.
    3. Sylvie Lambert & Martin Ravallion & Dominique van de Walle, 2011. "Is It What You Inherited Or What You Learnt?: Intergenerational linkage and interpersonal inequality in Senegal," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2011-062, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues, 2012. "Effects on women empowerment of awareness raising," EconStor Preprints 67517, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    5. Sofia Amaral, 2015. "Do Improved Property Rights Decrease Violence Against Women in India?," Discussion Papers 15-10, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    6. S Thangamayan, 2020. "Enhancing Women’s Empowerment: Evidence from Tamilnadu," Shanlax International Journal of Economics, Shanlax Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 36-41, December.
    7. Anderson, Siwan & Genicot, Garance, 2015. "Suicide and property rights in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 64-78.
    8. Roy, Sanchari, 2015. "Empowering women? Inheritance rights, female education and dowry payments in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 233-251.
    9. Lambert, Sylvie & van de Walle, Dominique, 2011. "Is It What You Inherited Or What You Learnt?," WIDER Working Paper Series 062, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. R Premalatha, 2020. "Pattern of Public Expenditure on Social Sector in India," Shanlax International Journal of Economics, Shanlax Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 57-62, December.
    11. Sapkal Rahul Suresh, 2017. "From Mother to Daughter: Does Equal Inheritance Property Laws Reform Improve Female Labor Supply and Educational Attainments in India?," Asian Journal of Law and Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-36, April.
    12. Marco Alfano, 2014. "Daughters, Dowries, Deliveries:The Effect of Marital Payments on Fertility Choices in India," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1413, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).

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