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Pronatal property rights over land and fertility outcomes : evidence from a natural experiment in Ethiopia

Author

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  • Ali,Daniel Ayalew
  • Deininger,Klaus W.
  • Kemper,Niels Gerd

Abstract

This study exploits a natural experiment to investigate the impact of land reform on the fertility outcomes of households in rural Ethiopia. Public policies and customs created a situation where Ethiopian households could influence their usufruct rights to land via a demographic expansion of the family. The study evaluates the impact of the abolishment of these pronatal property rights on fertility outcomes. By matching aggregated census data before and after the reform with administrative data on the reform, a difference-in-differences approach between reform and non-reform districts is used to assess the impact of the reform on fertility outcomes. The impact appears to be large. The study estimates that women in rural areas reduced their life-time fertility by 1.2 children due to the reform. Robustness checks show that the impact estimates are not biased by spillovers or policy endogeneity.

Suggested Citation

  • Ali,Daniel Ayalew & Deininger,Klaus W. & Kemper,Niels Gerd, 2015. "Pronatal property rights over land and fertility outcomes : evidence from a natural experiment in Ethiopia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7419, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7419
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    Cited by:

    1. Nayana Bose & Shreyasee Das, 2021. "Women's Inheritance Rights and Fertility Decisions: Evidence from India," DETU Working Papers 2101, Department of Economics, Temple University.
    2. Melesse, Mequanint B. & Cecchi, Francesco, 2017. "Does Market Experience Attenuate Risk Aversion? Evidence from Landed Farm Households in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 447-466.
    3. Portner, Claus C., 2023. "How Is Fertility Behavior in Africa Different?," SocArXiv jf9um, Center for Open Science.
    4. Takada, Jun & Shuto, Hisato, 2023. "Causal linkages between land reform and factor demand under tenure insecurity: Evidence from Amhara Region, Ethiopia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).

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    Keywords

    Population Policies; Youth and Government; Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems; Environmental Economics&Policies; Demographics;
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