Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/245549 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14498
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Child height is a significant predictor of human capital and economic status throughout adulthood. Moreover, non-unitary household models of family behavior posit that an increase in women's bargaining power can influence child health. We study the effects of an inheritance law change, the Hindu Succession Act Amendment (HSAA), which conferred enhanced inheritance rights to unmarried women in India, on child height. We find robust evidence that the HSAA improved the height and weight of children. In addition, we find evidence consistent with a channel that the policy improved the women's intrahousehold bargaining power within the household, leading to improved parental investments for children. These study findings are also compatible with the notion that children do better when their mothers control a more significant fraction of the family resources. Therefore, policies that empower women can have additional positive spillovers for children's human capital.
Subjects: 
human capital
height
bargaining
parental investments
developing countries
India
JEL: 
D13
I12
I13
J13
J16
J18
K13
O12
O15
Z12
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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