Showing papers on "Inheritance published in 2019"

Women’s Inheritance Rights and Bargaining Power: Evidence from Kenya

Abstract: This paper investigates the human capital effects of a legal reform granting Kenyan women equal inheritance rights I employ a difference-in-differences strategy, exploiting variation in pr

Plural Inheritance Laws, Practices and Emergent Types of Property—Implications for Updating the Land Register

Abstract: Sustaining up-to-date land registers in the global south is an increasing concern for the protection of tenure, development of land markets and long-term sustainable planning practices and policy. It requires both the prompt reporting of land transfers and also an alignment between prevailing land rights and official recording systems. The literature on land registration highlights some effects of inheritance practices on the land register and land development. Taking these studies a step further, our research investigates how such effects evolve from the rules that guide inheritance practices using a qualitative research approach. We found that normative practices of inheritance mostly lead to communal property through numerous processes which have implications on the timing and likelihood of possible registration. Also, we found that the significance of land and buildings in the social context transcends the physical property per se and includes dimensions of spirituality and social identity. Our findings explain the misalignment between the official and social logics of property and suggest likelihood of non-reporting. We conclude that flexibility is required in recording communal rights in rural areas and that the transition to individual property is more likely in peri-urban and urban areas where the social logics of property have broken.

How do Inheritances Shape Wealth Inequality? Theory and Evidence from Sweden

Abstract: Inheritances reduce relative measures of wealth inequality according to recent evidence from several countries. Using a theoretical model and Swedish administrative data, we first show that this counter-intuitive finding can be explained by high intergenerational wealth mobility and low inheritance inequality relative to wealth inequality. We then exploit two quasi-experiments: randomness in the timing of death and an inheritance tax repeal. We find that the equalizing effect of inheritances is short-lasting and reverted within a decade since less wealthy heirs deplete their inherited wealth rapidly in contrast to more affluent heirs. This depletion represents a constant reduction in annual savings equivalent in size to 10% of the average inheritances amount. 70% of this additional annual non-labor income are allocated to consumption (half of it is car purchases) in the first years, compared to 90% in later years. The remaining 30% (or 10%) reflect a considerable albeit declining labor supply elasticity with respect to inheritances. Taken together, our findings suggest that inheritance taxation can reduce long-run wealth inequality solely through the taxation of very large inheritances.

Inheritance law reform, empowerment, and human capital accumulation : second-generation effects from India

Abstract: This paper uses evidence from three Indian states, one of which amended inheritance legislation in 1994, to assess first- and second-generation effects of inheritance reform using a triple-difference strategy. Second-generation effects on education, time use, and health are larger and more significant than first-generation effects even controlling for mothers' endowments. Improved access to bank accounts and sanitation as well as lower fertility in the parent generation suggest that inheritance reform empowered females in a sustainable way, a notion supported by significantly higher female survival rates.

The Family and the Elderly in Spanish Society: The Exercise of Testamentary Freedom When the Testator Reaches the Age of Eighty

Abstract: The rules that in the civil legal systems regulate the succession upon death, highlight the conception that every legal text has about individual freedom, and also about the family. The variety of Spanish civil laws includes very different systems on the compulsory portion. And this shows up (because of that), that variety of conceptions. This paper analyzes the disinheritance as an exercise of the testamentary freedom to deprive the compulsory portion to certain relatives. The research aim is to show the differences and the common points between Spanish civil laws and to propose some legal reforms. The research method used consists on the analysis of the most relevant statistics about the Spanish population and on the most frequent decisions of the elderly regarding their descendant’s inheritance. Also, last year main judicial decisions and the authors’ opinions have been analyzed.

The Returns to Invention during the British Industrial Revolution

Abstract: It was a commonplace among contemporaries, and remains received wisdom today, that inventors were poorly remunerated during the industrial revolution. Adapting a dataset of 759 British inventors, this article presents the first large‐scale attempt to examine the issue systematically. Using probate information, the article shows that inventors were extremely wealthy relative to the adult male population. Inventors were also significantly wealthier than another group who would have received a similar inheritance (in terms of both financial and social capital) and entered similar occupations: their brothers. Their additional wealth was derived from inventive activities: invention paid.

Over the Top: Why an Annual Wealth Tax for Canada is Unnecessary

Abstract: The idea of a wealth tax has taken on new prominence since French economist Thomas Piketty famously proposed a global wealth tax in 2013; Senator Elizabeth Warren has even made a national wealth tax a plank in her campaign to become the Democratic presidential candidate in 2020. The current interest in wealth taxation is a response to the increase in wealth concentration and income inequality that has occurred in most OECD countries. It has been well documented that both income and wealth inequality have risen significantly in recent decades. In this Commentary, we critically evaluate the case for an annual wealth tax as part of Canada’s tax system. To do so, we review current received wisdom on the elements of a good tax system, drawing on the normative tax design literature and best practices. We do not address the issue of how responsive tax policy needs to be to deal with the evolving inequality of income and wealth. Our focus, instead, is on the mix of policy instruments that are most effective for whatever degree of responsiveness policymakers choose. Our argument is that wealth taxes add relatively little to the taxes on capital and capital income that are already in place, and that concerns about the social consequences of wealth concentration are better addressed by reform of existing capital income taxes and by considering wealth transfer (inheritance) taxation. Our argument against wealth taxation is over and above the substantial administrative challenges in measurement, collection and coverage for annual wealth taxes. These alone are enough to raise red flags about wealth taxation. For our part, we rely on the more fundamental argument that annual net wealth taxes are unnecessary since their objectives can be better achieved by suitably designed taxes on capital income and wealth transfers.

“ Boy and Girl on Equal Terms ”: Women, Waqf , and Wealth Transmission in Mamluk Egypt

Abstract: The paper aims at reappraising the position of women in wealth holding and transmission among the elite families of Mamluk Egypt. It is based on sample surveys of the bulk of legal documents, both sale and endowment deeds mainly dating from the ninth/fifteenth century, nowadays preserved in Cairo. It argues that at a time of high mortality rates, frequent widowhood and remarriage, the Islamic law of inheritance proved to be particularly protective for the female relatives of a male deceased. In such a context, pious endowment (waqf) was not only an option among others in the management of estates, but was used as an alternative, albeit legal, channel of wealth transmission in order to escape the law of inheritance and its adverse effects. In this respect, elite families of Mamluk Egypt, were they of local or foreign background, used to share the same concerns and values about family, as evidenced by the extensive use of the same form in their endowment deeds, while dealing with the attribution of their waqf’s surplus income. This standard form, which is not to be found in contemporary notarial handbooks such as al-Asyūṭī’s Jawāhir al-ʿUqūd, sheds some light on the effective asset strategies of the ninth/fifteenth Egyptian elites. The “chosen family” it outlines shows several discrepancies to the legal norms of inheritance, as for instance the exclusion from wealth transmission of the deceased’s widow(s) and of the children she/they might have after remarriage, and moreover the equal treatment of boys and girls in the attribution to the founder’s descendants of his/her waqf’s surplus income. The Cairene legal documents also reveal to what extent women were playing all roles in dealing with the holding and transmission of wealth in Mamluk society.

Understanding Intergenerational Mobility: The Role of Nature versus Nurture in Wealth and Other Economic Outcomes and Behaviors

Abstract: Wealth is highly correlated between parents and their children; however, little is known about the extent to which these relationships are genetic or determined by environmental factors. We use administrative data on the net wealth of a large sample of Swedish adoptees merged with similar information for their biological and adoptive parents. Comparing the relationship between the wealth of adopted and biological parents and that of the adopted child, we find that, even prior to any inheritance, there is a substantial role for environment and a much smaller role for pre-birth factors and we find little evidence that nature/nurture interactions are important. When bequests are taken into account, the role of adoptive parental wealth becomes much stronger. Our findings suggest that wealth transmission is not primarily because children from wealthier families are inherently more talented or more able but that, even in relatively egalitarian Sweden, wealth begets wealth. We further build on the existing literature by providing a more comprehensive view of the role of nature and nurture on intergenerational mobility, looking at a wide range of different outcomes using a common sample and method. We find that environmental influences are relatively more important for wealth-related variables such as savings and investment decisions than for human capital. We conclude by studying consumption as an overall measure of welfare and find that, like wealth, it is more determined by environment than by biology.

Gendered Paths to Asset Accumulation? Markets, Savings, and Credit in Developing Countries

Abstract: An extensive literature shows how property inheritance is biased against women in many developing countries, yet relatively little attention has been given to gender bias in other means of acquirin...

Educational diversity and ethnic cultural heritage in the process of globalization

Abstract: The inheritance of ethnic cultures is an important subject in the field of educational anthropology. As the most important conduit for the passing along of ethnic cultures, education strongly impacts that inheritance. Today, however, the rate of globalization is rapidly increasing. Whether in domestic or foreign education, or whether for primary or higher education, increasingly severe challenges in education are yielding profound changes. One of the most important developments in education at the present time is the cultivation of diversity. Increased diversity in education will have a profound impact on the inheritance of ethnic cultures. In light of the current age and contemporary social changes, the significance of the inheritance of ethnic cultures within the process of globalization is magnified. The current work uses the characteristics of educational development toward diversity to analyze the relationship between education and the inheritance of ethnic cultures, and suggests necessary changes in education to promote that inheritance.

Inheritance Law Reform, Empowerment, and Human Capital Accumulation

Abstract: Abstract Although many studies point towards significant positive impacts of Hindu Succession Act (HSA) reforms on females’ empowerment and access to human and physical capital, the fact that this reform also led to increased female mortality raises questions about long-term sustainability of reform effects. We use evidence from three states, one of which amended the HSA in 1994, to assess first- and second-generation effects of this reform using a triple-difference strategy. First-generation effects include greater likelihood of completing primary education, more assets brought into marriage, improved access to bank accounts, a lower share of female births, and higher female survival rates. Second-generation effects on education, time use, and health are robust and point estimates of education are larger than first-generation ones even after mothers’ endowments are controlled for, pointing to a sizeable and sustained empowerment effect.

Inheritance Distribution of Adopted Children in The Perspective of Customary Law and Islamic Law Compilation: Case Study of the Application of Inheritance Law in Kudus

Abstract: This article aims to examine the position of adopted children, determine the position of adopted children's inheritance rights, as well as the application of the distribution of inheritance for adopted children in Customary Law and Compilation of Islamic Law in Kudus Regency. The method used is qualitative with a comparative approach. The results showed that the teachings of Islam did not deny the existence of adopted children as far as giving welfare and education to children. The position of adopted children in customary law is influenced by the family or family system. Their position from one region to another varies. In the case of the application of the distribution of inheritance for adopted children in adat law in Kudus District, several provisions of customary law state that the portion of adopted children is equated with the portion of biological children (if there is inheritance rights), or through the will of their adopted parents. While the application of Islamic Law Compilation in the distribution of inheritance in Kudus Regency also regulates wasiat wajibah , a will determined by law even though the person concerned does not inherit it.

Immaterial Inheritance: The Socialization of Cultures of Housing Consumption

Abstract: This article progresses understandings of contemporary middle-class housing aspirations and the socialization of these within families. It examines Australian middle-class homeowners’ dispositions ...

Do Inheritance Customs Affect Political and Social Inequality

Abstract: Why are some societies more unequal than others? The French revolutionaries believed unequal inheritances among siblings to be responsible for the strict hierarchies of the ancien regime. To achieve equality, the revolutionaries therefore enforced equal inheritance rights. Their goal was to empower women and to disenfranchise the noble class. But do equal inheritances succeed in leveling the societal playing field? We study Germany—a country with pronounced local‐level variation in inheritance customs—and find that municipalities that historically equally apportioned wealth, to this day, elect more women into political councils and have fewer aristocrats in the social elite. Using historic data, we point to two mechanisms: wealth equality and pro‐egalitarian preferences. In a final step, we also show that, counterintuitively, equitable inheritance customs positively predict income inequality. We interpret this finding to mean that equitable inheritances level the playing field by rewarding talent, not status.

The disequilibrium of double descent: changing inheritance norms among Himba pastoralists.

Abstract: Matrilineal systems in sub-Saharan Africa tend to co-occur with horticulture and are rare among pastoralists, with the causal arrow pointing from the introduction of cattle to the loss of matriliny. However, most work on this topic stems from either phylogenetic analyses or historical data. To better understand the shift from matrilineal to patrilineal inheritance that occurred among Bantu populations after the adoption of pastoralism, data from societies that are currently in transition are needed. Himba pastoralists, who practice 'double descent', may represent one such society. Using multi-generational ethnography and structured survey data, we describe current norms and preferences about inheritance, as well as associated norms related to female autonomy. We find that preferences for patrilineal inheritance are strong, despite the current practice of matrilineal cattle inheritance. We also find that a preference for patriliny predicts greater acceptance of norm violating behaviour favouring sons over nephews. Finally, we show that there are important generational differences in how men view women's autonomy, which are probably attributable to both changing norms about inheritance and exposure to majority-culture views on women's roles. Our data shed light on how systemic change like the shifts in descent reckoning that occurred during the Bantu expansion can occur. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolution of female-biased kinship in humans and other mammals'.

Differences between sons and daughters in the intergenerational transmission of wealth

Abstract: Persistent interest lies in gender inequality, especially with regard to the favouring of sons over daughters. Economists are concerned with how privilege is transmitted across generations, and anthropologists have long studied sex-biased inheritance norms. There has, however, been no focused cross-cultural investigation of how parent-offspring correlations in wealth vary by offspring sex. We estimate these correlations for 38 wealth measures, including somatic and relational wealth, from 15 populations ranging from hunter-gatherers to small-scale farmers. Although small sample sizes limit our statistical power, we find no evidence of ubiquitous male bias, at least as inferred from comparing parent-son and parent-daughter correlations. Rather we find wide variation in signatures of sex bias, with evidence of both son and daughter-biased transmission. Further, we introduce a model that helps pinpoint the conditions under which simple mid-point parent-offspring wealth correlations can reveal information about sex-biased parental investment. Our findings are relevant to the study of female-biased kinship by revealing just how little normative descriptors of kinship systems, such as patrilineal inheritance, capture intergenerational correlations in wealth, and how variable parent-son and parent-daughter correlations can be. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolution of female-biased kinship in humans and other mammals'.

The media coverage of wealth and inheritance taxation in Germany

Abstract: Based on the political economy of the media perspective, this paper explores the media coverage of wealth and inheritance taxation over the early 21st century (2000 to 2018) based on a large-scale corpus of seven German daily and weekly newspapers. Germany is a useful case study, being one of the most unequal countries in the Eurozone area in terms of wealth inequality. Drawing on text mining methods and corpus linguistics, it shows that wealth and inheritance taxation is a relatively infrequent topic over the entire period, with the exception of a few intense months of increased reporting. On the occasions that the media do report on the topic of wealth and inheritance taxation, it is mainly covered in terms of a political debate. This debate centres on the politics of a possible reform process and the connected difficulties of finding compromise between different actors, rather than focussing on the potential economic impact. Furthermore, this paper explores the power of agents (both on the organisational and individual level) as the primary definers of social reality. It shows that market-liberal and conservative organisations and economists dominate the news over social-democratic and left-wing ones. Overall, the findings indicate a hostile news coverage concerning the introduction of wealth taxation and the increase of inheritance tax.

Great Expectations? Childhood, Family, and Middle-Class Social Mobility in Nineteenth-Century England

Abstract: Existing histories of social mobility have focused on adults and on measuring the achievement of individual upward mobility. However, children and families were central to mobility strategies. Usin...

Islamic Intervivos Law Challenges in Malaysia

Abstract: The effects of unclaimed inheritance estate problems lead to the expansion of transfer during lifetime practice or hibah (Islamic inter vivos). Hibah enables the heirs to acquire donor’s wealth and it is not subjected to inheritance estate management after the death of donor. The practice of hibah has evolved from the traditional method of giving which is a direct transfer through Form 14A at the land office to contemporary methods of giving via trust hibah. However, due to limited Malaysian legislation regarding the hibah practice, there are numerous disputes among heirs or related parties. Hence, this study proposes a comprehensive hibah law to explain substantive jurisdictions strengthen Syariah Court and act as references to the Islamic estate planners.

Salience of Inherited Wealth andthe Support for InheritanceTaxation

Abstract: We study how attitudes to inheritance taxation are influenced by information about the role of inherited wealth in society. Using a randomized experiment in a register-linked Swedish survey, we find that informing individuals about the large aggregate importance of inherited wealth and its link to inequality of opportunity significantly increases the support for inheritance taxation. The effect is almost uniform across socio-economic groups and survives a battery of robustness tests. Changes in the perceived economic importance of inherited wealth and altered views on whether luck matters most for economic success appear to be the main driving factors behind the treatment effect. Our findings suggest that the low salience of inherited wealth could be one explanation behind the relatively marginalized role of inheritance taxation in developed economies.

Living with the past at home: The afterlife of inherited domestic objects:

Abstract: This article examines people’s responses to the material objects they inherit or discover in their homes. Reflecting on interviews with inhabitants of a variety of English domestic interiors, the a...

A tax dead on arrival: classical liberalism, inheritance, and social mobility

Abstract: Historically, it is safe to say that very few laws did as much to stoke inequality as laws touching descents and hereditary transmissions. This paper attempts to see if the classical liberal tradit...

Inheritance wealth distribution model and its implication to economy

Abstract: Purpose of study: Inheritance wealth is one of the instruments of wealth distribution in Islam that potentially capable to be a solution for economic inequality that triggered the multidimensional problems nations daily life. The concept of inheritance wealth distribution for Muslims has been summarized in Indonesian Islamic Law Compilation and in Marriage Act No. 1 year 1974. For non-Muslim society, the inheritance law is based on the concept of nations Civil Code and customary rules. The diversity in the concept of inheritance wealth distribution in Indonesia cannot be separated from the nature of the family and its influence on the assets, which is believed by the community. Methodology: This study used participation action research method as a qualitative approach in order to frame, analyze and solutions in form of strategic role model for the Government in completing and streamlining the inheritance wealth distribution in Indonesia. Result: The solutions will be based on problems faced by the Religious Courts and Islamic organizations in conducting inheritance wealth distribution. Moreover, propose inheritance wealth as public fund in addition to zakat, infaq, shodaqoh and endowments. Implications/Applications: The implementation and dispute settlement in inheritance wealth distribution are exercised by Religious Courts, as well as the Islamic organization such as Muhammadiyah and Nahdatul Ulama (NU). Diversity of institutions becomes an interesting phenomenon in Indonesia inheritance wealth distribution. This potentially makes inheritance wealth distribution done well and can prevent conflicts of individuals in the family, hoarding treasure and minimize economic disparities in society.

Irish farm succession and inheritance; an examination of farmers’ economic decision-making strategies as socially-constructed risk assessment

Abstract: ..................................................................................................................... xii Funding acknowledgement ........................................................................................ xiii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... xiv Dissemination ............................................................................................................. xv Academic journal publications .................................................................................... xv Academic press ........................................................................................................... xv Oral presentations ....................................................................................................... xv Poster presentations ................................................................................................... xvi Awards ...................................................................................................................... xvi Chapter 1 – Introduction ............................................................................................... 2 1.0. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 2 1.1. The agricultural policy formulation process – impacts on farm transfer ............... 4 1.2. Farmer response to economically incentivised policy .......................................... 7 1.3. Research question, aims and objectives ............................................................... 8 1.4. Conceptual framework ........................................................................................ 9 1.5. Methodology .................................................................................................... 10 1.6. Published papers ............................................................................................... 10 1.7. Thesis outline ................................................................................................... 12 1.8. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2 – Literature Review .................................................................................... 15 2.0. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 15

Networked heirlooms: the affective and financial logics of digital estate planning

Abstract: This article outlines the emergence of digital estate planning, a new way of managing post-mortem data, considering its cultural history and political stakes. I argue that Web 2.0 logics of interac...