From Mother to Daughter: Do Equal Inheritance Property Laws Reform Improve Female Labour Supply, Educational Attainments in India?

Abstract

In 2005, India witnessed a constitutional amendment to the Hindu Succession Act of 1956. It gave daughters equal inheritance rights as sons. However, five states in India had earlier amended the same Act in favour of daughters. Using this exogenous variation created by legislation on inheritance property rights, I exploit a difference-in-difference estimation strategy to estimate the impact of reform on female education, labour force participation and their daughter’s educational attainment. The study finds that women who were exposed to the reform experience have greater average schooling years, and average months of labour force participation. It is interesting to note that this positive effect is also observed for their daughter’s educational attainment. Results obtained from this study are consistent with the complementary and equalising effects hypothesis.

Keywords: Inheritance Property Rights, Female Education, Labour Supply, India

JEL Classification: I21, D23, O12, J16, K00