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Intergenerational effects of improving women’s property rights: evidence from India

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  • Nayana Bose
  • Shreyasee Das

Abstract

This paper analyzes the intergenerational effects following the positive changes in women’s inheritance rights in India. Using the Indian Human Development Survey data for rural India and a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that the property rights reform significantly empowered women through increased education. However, we find no intergenerational effect of the reform on children’s education. We explore two potential mechanisms to explain these results: the role of status conflict among spouses and that of a child’s birth-order and gender. Given that a woman’s bargaining power may depend on her relative position to that of her husband, we investigate this channel and find a significant decrease in children’s education in households where fathers are less educated than mothers. Accounting for a child’s birth-order and gender, we find no evidence of son-preference through the education channel.

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  • Nayana Bose & Shreyasee Das, 2021. "Intergenerational effects of improving women’s property rights: evidence from India," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(3), pages 277-290, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:oxdevs:v:49:y:2021:i:3:p:277-290
    DOI: 10.1080/13600818.2021.1899154
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • K36 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Family and Personal Law
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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