Inheritance Law Reform, Empowerment, and Human Capital Accumulation : Second-Generation Effects from India

This paper uses evidence from three
Indian states, one of which amended inheritance legislation
in 1994, to assess first- and second-generation effects of
inheritance reform using a triple-difference strategy.
Second-generation effects on education, time use, and health
are larger and more significant than first-generation
effects even controlling for mothers' endowments.
Improved access to bank accounts and sanitation as well as
lower fertility in the parent generation suggest that
inheritance reform empowered females in a sustainable way, a
notion supported by significantly higher female survival rates.