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The political returns to women’s inheritance rights in India

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  • Nandwani, Bharti
  • Roychowdhury, Punarjit

Abstract

This paper examines whether granting property inheritance rights to women improves their participation in politics as election candidates in India. Leveraging state-level changes in inheritance laws and large-scale election data, we find that improved property rights increase female candidacy and their chances of winning elections. The reforms particularly encourage regional parties to nominate more women, with a notable rise in new female candidates. We show that these results are not confounded by pre-existing trends and are robust to treatment effect heterogeneity. We provide suggestive evidence that the rise in political participation stems from gains in women’s financial autonomy and shifts in restrictive gender norms due to the reforms. Our findings underscore the potential for legal and institutional reforms that expand women’s economic agency to generate meaningful political empowerment and reduce gender gaps in political representation.

Suggested Citation

  • Nandwani, Bharti & Roychowdhury, Punarjit, 2026. "The political returns to women’s inheritance rights in India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:248:y:2026:i:c:s0167268126002532
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2026.107667
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • K11 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Property Law
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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