Brulé Published in the Journal of Development Economics
Rachel Brule, Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published an article in the September 2020 issue of the Journal of Development Economics examining how a reform equalizing women’s inheritance rights in India affects son preference.
In the article, titled “Women’s inheritance rights reform and the preference for sons in India,” Brule and co-authors Sonia Bhalotra and Sanchari Roy investigate whether legislation of equal inheritance rights for women modifies the historic preference for sons in India, and find that it exacerbates it while also increasing female foeticide. Their research suggests that the inheritance reform raised the costs of having daughters, consistent with which we document an increase in stated son preference in fertility post reform.
An excerpt:
In this paper…we investigate not whether equal property rights legislation empowers women within marriage or on the marriage market, but whether it modifies the historic tendency for Indian parents to prefer to have sons. There is hardly a more compelling statement of gender inequality in India than its unnaturally male-biased population sex ratio, an important driver of which is the desire to have sons. To what extent is this historic desire for sons driven by their stronger economic position and, in particular, their greater command over ancestral property?
The full article can be read here.
Rachel Brule is an Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and core faculty of the Global Development Policy Center’s Human Capital Initiative. Her research interests are broadly in comparative politics, international development, political economy, and gender, with a geographical focus on South Asia. Read more about her here.