Women’s Right to Property and the Quantity-Quality Trade-Off of Children : Evidence From India

We study the effects of a positive wealth shock due to a series of state and federal reforms that granted equal inheritance rights to Indian women on the quantity and quality of children and son preference. Using a difference-in-differences methodology, we find that women who were affected by the state reforms had 0.35 more children. The increase in the number of sons born to treated women was higher than the number of daughters. To assess the federal reform we use a panel data of women and a novel treatment based on the timing of their father’s death. We find that women affected by the reform had on average 0.22 fewer children. While the federal reform had no effect on the number of daughters born to this group, the number of sons born declined. Women affected by the federal reform had taller children whereas state reforms did not have any effect on children’s heights. Thus, we see evidence that granting property rights to women could potentially affect their fertility decisions, improve health outcomes of children, and mitigate gender inequality