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  3. American Economic Review
  4. May 2017
  5. Women's Inheritance Rights, Household Allocation, and Gender Bias

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Women's Inheritance Rights, Household Allocation, and Gender Bias

  • Nayana Bose
  • Shreyasee Das
American Economic Review
vol. 107, no. 5, May 2017
(pp. 150–53)
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Abstract

We analyze the impact of improved land inheritance rights for women in India on female empowerment by examining their educational attainment and the intergenerational effects of the reform. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that the amendment to the Hindu Succession Act significantly increased education of women from landed households by 0.48 years. However, our results indicate a significant decrease in the educational attainment of children, especially boys of treated mothers. We attribute this decrease to treated mothers who are better educated and able to assess the higher opportunity cost of education for boys.

Citation

Bose, Nayana, and Shreyasee Das. 2017. "Women's Inheritance Rights, Household Allocation, and Gender Bias." American Economic Review, 107 (5): 150–53. DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171128

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D13 Household Production and Intrahousehold Allocation
  • I21 Analysis of Education
  • J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
  • J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
  • O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
  • O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements