| By: |
Mathilde Sage (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)) |
| Abstract: |
Does improving widows’ inheritance rights have the potential to reduce
fertility rates in Sub-Saharan Africa? This paper exploits a natural
experiment in Namibia to identify the causal impact of a reform implemented in
2008 that improved widow’s inheritance rights on fertility behaviors. I
combine pre-reform variations in customary inheritance laws across traditional
authorities with time variation, using a difference-in-differences strategy.
The results indicate that the reform led to a 24% decrease in the annual birth
rate, equivalent to a reduction of one child over a woman’s reproductive life.
Additionally, the reform delayed the age at first birth by 5.5 months. I find
suggestive evidence that women had more children and at an earlier age as a
mitigating strategy against the prevalent risk of dispossession in widowhood.
In contexts where the widowhood risk may materialize at a young age due to
large age gap between partners and to women’s longer life expectancy, women
anticipate the need to have a financially independent child by their 40’s.
These findings suggest that protecting widows’ inheritance rights could be a
novel, low-cost policy lever to reduce fertility rates and delay early
childbearing, addressing major development challenges in the subcontinent. |
| Keywords: |
Inheritance rights, Widows, Fertility, sub-Saharan Africa, Insurance |
| JEL: |
O12 J12 J13 J16 |
| Date: |
2025–02–25 |
| URL: |
https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2025004 |