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Unintended Consequences of Women's Inheritance Rights on Female Mortality in India

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  • Daniel Rosenblum

Abstract

Before 2005, most states of India only gave sons the legal right to inherit their parents' ancestral land. However, five states in India had legal reforms giving daughters the same inheritance rights as sons. This article examines the impact of these reforms on female child mortality and fertility. A model shows that if parents desire to maximize their bequest per son, then giving daughters inheritance rights increases the cost of daughters, causing parents to reduce investment in their daughters' health or decrease fertility. A difference-in-difference analysis shows that the reforms caused an increase in female child mortality but had no effect on fertility rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Rosenblum, 2015. "Unintended Consequences of Women's Inheritance Rights on Female Mortality in India," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(2), pages 223-248.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:ecdecc:doi:10.1086/679059
    DOI: 10.1086/679059
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    Cited by:

    1. Siwan Anderson & Chris Bidner, 2021. "An Institutional Perspective on the Economics of the Family," Discussion Papers dp21-14, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University.
    2. Margaux Suteau, 2020. "Inheritance Rights and Women's Empowerment in the Labor and Marriage Markets," Thema Working Papers 2020-17, THEMA (Théorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), CY Cergy-Paris University, ESSEC and CNRS.
    3. Joseph Ajefu & Efobi Uchenna & Nadia Singh & Shayequa Zeenat Ali, 2024. "Women’s Inheritance Rights and Child Health Outcomes in Kenya," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 137-150, March.
    4. Jean-Philippe Platteau & Guilia Camilotti & Emmanuelle Auriol, 2017. "Eradicating women-hurting customs: What role for social engineering?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-145, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Platteau, Jean-Philippe & Guirkinger, Catherine, 2019. "The dynamics of family systems: lessons from past and present times," CEPR Discussion Papers 13570, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    6. 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.
    7. Andréa Renk & Clarice Manuel, 2023. "Patriarchy on the map: Women’s empowerment trajectories in Nepal’s changing social context," DeFiPP Working Papers 2304, University of Namur, Development Finance and Public Policies.
    8. Siwan Anderson, 2024. "The Complexity of Female Empowerment in India," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 12(1), pages 74-92, April.
    9. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Camilotti, Giula & Platteau, Jean-Philippe, 2017. "Eradicating Women-Hurting Customs: What Role for Social Engineering?," CEPR Discussion Papers 12107, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Deininger, Klaus W. & Jin, Songqing & Nagarajan, Hari & Xia, Fang, 2013. "How Far Does the Amendment to the Hindu Succession Act Reach? Evidence from Two-Generation Females in Urban India," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 151432, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    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. Harris-Fry, Helen & Saville, Naomi M. & Paudel, Puskar & Manandhar, Dharma S. & Cortina-Borja, Mario & Skordis, Jolene, 2022. "Relative power: Explaining the effects of food and cash transfers on allocative behaviour in rural Nepalese households," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    13. Klaus Deininger & Songqing Jin & Hari K. Nagarajan & Fang Xia, 2019. "Inheritance Law Reform, Empowerment, and Human Capital Accumulation: Second-Generation Effects from India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(12), pages 2549-2571, December.
    14. Bhalotra, Sonia & Brulé, Rachel & Roy, Sanchari, 2020. "Women's inheritance rights reform and the preference for sons in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).

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