Nagarajan, HariDeininger, KlausGoyal, Aparajita2012-03-192012-03-192010-06-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3823This paper examines whether and to what extent amendments in inheritance legislation impact women's physical and human capital investments, using disaggregated household level data from India. The authors use inheritance patterns over three generations of individuals to assess the impact of changes in the Hindu Succession Act that grant daughters equal coparcenary birth rights in joint family property that were denied to daughters in the past. The causal effect is isolated by exploiting the variation in the timing of father's death to compare within household bequests of land given to sons and daughters in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka. The analysis shows that the amendment significantly increased daughters' likelihood to inherit land, but that even after the amendment substantial bias persists. The results also indicate a robust increase in educational attainment of daughters, suggesting an alternative channel of wealth transfer.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO LANDADVERSE EFFECTSAGE AT MARRIAGEAGE DISTRIBUTIONAGE GROUPSAGE OF MARRIAGEAGEDAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONAGRICULTUREALLOCATION OF RESOURCESASSETSBARRIERS TO WOMENCHILD HEALTHCHILD MORTALITYCOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGECONSTANT RETURNS TO SCALEDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDISCRIMINATIONDISSEMINATIONDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTHDIVORCEDOMESTIC VIOLENCEDYINGEARLY MARRIAGEECONOMETRIC ANALYSISECONOMIC INEQUALITYECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIESECONOMIC OUTCOMESECONOMIC RESEARCHECONOMIC STATUSECONOMICS RESEARCHEDUCATION OF GIRLSEDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTELEMENTARY EDUCATIONEMPOWERMENTEMPOWERMENT OF WOMENEQUALITY OF WOMENEQUILIBRIUM THEORYFAMILY HEALTHFAMILY INCOMEFAMILY LAWFAMILY MEMBERSFAMILY PROPERTYFAMILY RESOURCESFATHERFATHERSFEMALEFEMALE CHILDRENFEMALE HEIRSFEMALESFERTILITYFUNCTIONAL FORMSFUTURE GENERATIONSFUTURE RESEARCHGENDERGENDER ASPECTSGENDER BIASGENDER DIFFERENCESGENDER DISCRIMINATIONGENDER EQUALITYGENDER INEQUALITYHOMEHOUSEHOLD FORMATIONHOUSEHOLD LEVELHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHUMAN CAPITALHUSBANDHUSBANDSIMPACT ON CHILDRENINCOME INEQUALITYINDIFFERENCE CURVESINEQUALITIESINEQUALITYINHERITANCEINHERITANCE RIGHTSINHERITANCESINTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTEINVESTMENT IN CHILDRENKINSHIPKINSHIP STRUCTURELABOR FORCELABOR SUPPLYLAND OWNERSHIPLAWSLEGAL AGE AT MARRIAGELEGAL CHANGELEGAL CHANGESLEGAL RIGHTSLEGISLATIONLEGISLATIVE CHANGESLEVEL OF EDUCATIONLIVELIHOOD OPPORTUNITIESLOW-INCOME COUNTRIESMARRIAGESMATERIAL WEALTHMATERNAL MORTALITYMODERNIZATIONMOTHERMOTHERSNATIONAL COUNCILNATIONAL LEVELNUMBER OF CHILDRENNUTRITIONOLD AGEOLD-AGEOPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMENOPTIMIZATIONOWNERSHIP OF LANDPARENTSPENSIONPENSIONSPERMANENT INCOMEPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOLITICAL POWERPOLYGAMYPOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENTPOPULATION STUDIESPOSITIVE EFFECTSPRIMARY EDUCATIONPRODUCTION FUNCTIONPROGRESSPROPERTY RIGHTSREPRODUCTIVE DECISIONSRESOURCE ALLOCATIONRESPECTRURAL AREASRURAL DEVELOPMENTRURAL POVERTYSANCTIONSSEXSEX RATIOSSEXESSOCIAL SECURITYSOCIAL STATUSSPILLOVERSPOUSESPOUSESSTATE GOVERNMENTSSTATUS OF WOMENTAXATIONUTILITY FUNCTIONWIDOWWIDOWSWIFEWILLWILLSWIVESWOMANWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5338