Higher duration of programs that involve legal protection may entail gradual positive changes in social norms that can be leveraged by potential beneficiaries in their favor. This paper examines the heterogeneous impact of the duration of exposure to gender-neutral reforms in the inheritance law in India on two latent domains of women empowerment: intrinsic, which pertains to expansion of agency and instrumental which relates to ability to make decisions. The time lag between the year of the amendment in the respective states and the year of marriage generate exogenous variation in reform exposure across women. The findings indicate a significant non-linear increase in the instrumental as well as intrinsic empowerment. Importantly, improvements in education along with increase in the age of marriage and changes in family structure are found to be the potential channels that signal gradual relaxation of social norms and explain the higher returns to exposure on empowerment.
One important dimension of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs apart from conditionality is the provision of continuous frequency of payouts. On the contrary, the Apni Beti Apna Dhan program, implemented in the state of Haryana in India from 1994 to 1998 offers a promised amount to female beneficiaries redeemable only after attaining 18 years of age if she remains unmarried. This paper assesses the impact of this long-term financial incentivization on outcomes, not directly associated with the conditionality. Using multiple datasets in a triple difference framework, the findings reveal a significant positive impact on years of education though it does not translate into gains in labor participation. While gauging the potential channels, we did not observe higher educational effects beyond secondary education. Additionally, impact on time allocation for leisure, socialization or self-care, age of marriage beyond 18 years, age at first birth, and post-marital empowerment indicators are found to be limited. These evidence indicate failure of the program in altering the prevailing gender norms despite improvements in educational outcomes. The paper recommends a set of complementary potential policy instruments that include altering gender norms through behavioral interventions skill development and incentives to encourage female work participation.
The study examines the effect of cooking fuel choice on educational outcomes of adolescent children in rural India. Using multiple large-scale nationally representative datasets, we observe household solid fuel usage to adversely impact school attendance, years of schooling and age-appropriate grade progression among children. This inference is robust to alternative ways of measuring educational outcomes, other datasets, specifications and estimation techniques. Importantly, the effect is found to be more pronounced for females in comparison to the males highlighting the gendered nature of the impact. On exploring possible pathways, we find that the direct time substitution on account of solid fuel collection and preparation can explain the detrimental educational outcomes that include learning outcomes as well, even though we are unable to reject the health channel. In the light of the micro and macro level vulnerabilities posed by the COVID-19 outbreak, the paper recommends interventions that have the potential to fasten the household energy transition towards clean fuel in the post-covid world.
Rapid rise in income inequality in India is a serious concern. While the emphasis is on inclusive growth, it seems difficult to tackle the problem without looking at the intricacies of the problem. Social mobility is one such important tool which helps in reaching the cause of the problem and focuses on bringing long term equality in the country. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of social background and education attainment in generating occupation mobility in the country. By applying an extended version of the RC association model to 68th round (2011-12) of the Employment and Unemployment Survey by the National Sample Survey Office of India, we found that the role of education is not important in generating occupation mobility in India, while social background plays a critical role in determining ones occupation. This study successfully highlights the strong intergenerational occupation immobility in the country and also the need to focus on education. In this regard, further studies are needed to uncover other crucial factors limiting the growth of individuals in the country.
The study examines the relationship between mobile financial services and individual financial behavior in India wherein a sizeable population is yet to be financially included. Addressing the endogeneity associated with the use of mobile financial services using an instrumental variable method, the study finds that the use of mobile financial services increases the likelihood of investment, having insurance and borrowing from formal financial institutions. Further, the analysis highlights that access to mobile financial services have the potential to bridge the gender divide in financial inclusion. Fastening the pace of access to mobile financial services may partially alter pandemic induced poverty.
Due to the unavailability of nationally representative data on time use, a systematic analysis of the gender gap in unpaid household and care work has not been undertaken in the context of India. The present paper, using the recent Time Use Survey (2019) data, examines the socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with variation in time spent on unpaid household and care work among men and women. It analyses how much of the gender gap in the time allocated to unpaid work can be explained by differences in these factors. The findings show that women spend much higher time compared to men in unpaid household and care work. The decomposition results reveal that differences in socioeconomic and demographic factors between men and women do not explain most of the gender gap in unpaid household work. Our results indicate that unobserved gender norms and practices most crucially govern the allocation of unpaid work within Indian households.
Shreya Biswas
,Upasak Das
,Prasenjit Sarkhel
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(2020)
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"Duration of exposure to inheritance law in India: Examining the heterogeneous effects on empowerment"
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Upasak Das
هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا