Description
In rural societies, passing down land and providing an education are the main ways parents assure the future welfare of their children. If, however, parents educate their sons and not their daughters and only sons inherit land, women will be worse off compared to men. Is the distribution of income and welfare between men and women changing? While many studies have documented that education of women is increasing in developing countries, evidence on changes in women's land rights is scarce. Knowing how men and women acquire land and human capital is the basis for determining the extent of this gender problem and how to solve it.
The authors of this book identify the factors affecting land inheritance and schooling across generations in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Ghana—countries with very different social and cultural traditions. Based on household surveys at each site, the authors examine how these factors affect the distribution of income and spending in the household as a whole and among its individual members. They look at how these differences in land holdings and education affect what sons and daughters will earn over their lifetimes. To help right gender imbalances, the authors consider policies to encourage adoption of labor-intensive agricultural technologies, to extend and strengthen school systems in rural areas, to promote competition in off-farm labor markets, and to eliminate discrimination against women. The authors conclude that there is no conflict between policies to enhance the efficiency of investments in land and human capital and policies to promote gender equity.
The broad-based analysis will interest scholars in economics, anthropology, gender studies, sociology, and area studies.Reviews
"This book examines parental decisions to transfer wealth through schooling investments and land inheritance in three developing countries with different cultural traditions: the Philippines, Indonesia and Ghana . . . The authors expand our understanding of how choices are made in different contexts and shy land reform or education policies might fail to produce intended changes."—Leisa Magazine"Accessible to a wide audience interested in land distribution patterns and gender inequality in the developing world."—Choice "How parents around the world pass on wealth to their children, whether land or education, affects the future of next generations. Collecting and analyzing unique data in three countries, the authors immensely expand our understanding of how these choices are made in different contexts and, more importantly, why land reform or education polices might fail to produce intended changes. This book should be compulsory reading for those who contemplate such policies. The analysis is grounded solidly in empirical facts and economic models, and enriched by a profound appreciation for how societies function and cultures differ."—Elizabeth King, Lead Economist, East Asia Region, World Bank "This is a useful, interesting and relevant book. It provides a valuable synthesis and new evidence on land distribution patterns and gender inequality in three countries that are often discussed as development examples. The use of a unified approach and methodology across country case studies is welcome (and, indeed, rare) and this provides valuable insights into the differences and similarities in these processes across countries."—Markus Goldstein, Lecturer in Development Economics, London School of Economics
Author Information
Agnes R. Quisumbing is a senior research fellow at IFPRI. Jonna P. Estudillo is an assistant professor of economics at the University of the Philippines School of Economics, Quezon City. Keijiro Otsuka is a professorial fellow at the Foundation for Advanced Studies in International Development, Tokyo, Japan.
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