American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
Customary Norms, Inheritance, and Human Capital: Evidence from a Reform of the Matrilineal System in Ghana
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 9,
no. 4, October 2017
(pp. 166–85)
Abstract
We study the role of traditional norms in land allocation and human capital investment. We exploit a policy experiment in Ghana that increased the land that children from matrilineal groups could inherit from their fathers. Boys exposed to the reform received 0.9 less years of education—an effect driven by landed households, for whom the reform was binding. We find no effect for girls, whose inheritance was de facto unaffected. These patterns suggest that before the reform matrilineal groups invested more in education than they would if unconstrained, to substitute for land inheritance, underscoring the importance of cultural norms.Citation
La Ferrara, Eliana, and Annamaria Milazzo. 2017. "Customary Norms, Inheritance, and Human Capital: Evidence from a Reform of the Matrilineal System in Ghana." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 9 (4): 166–85. DOI: 10.1257/app.20150342Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D64 Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
- I21 Analysis of Education
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
- O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
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