PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - A. Nilesh Fernando
TI  - Shackled to the Soil? Inherited Land, Birth Order, and Labor Mobility
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.57.2.0219-10014R2
DP  - 2022 Mar 01
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 491--524
VI  - 57
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/57/2/491.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/57/2/491.full
SO  - J Hum Resour2022 Mar 01; 57
AB  - The inheritance of wealth promotes occupational choice, but may restrict it where its use is constrained by limited markets and cultural norms. This work investigates the effects of inheriting agricultural land in rural India and finds that while larger inheritances, on average, increase future household consumption, firstborn sons do not experience these gains. For firstborns, inheriting land reduces migration and entry into nonagricultural work. In contrast, inheriting land does not influence occupational choice or migration for latter-born sons. I attribute these differences, in part, to a cultural norm of parental support incumbent on firstborns and its interaction with inherited land.