Matrilineal inheritance practices in Malawi exogenously determine female land holdings at the time of marriage, allowing for the identification of the effect of increased female bargaining power on household consumption decisions. I use the matrilineal ethnicity of the head of household as an instrument for the share of total household land inherited by the female head or male head’s wife. I find that child’s height-for-age decreases with female assets, and evidence suggesting increased consumption from households’ own production. Since the food basket from own consumption is high in carbs but not nutritious, long-term child health suffers despite receiving more resources than their peers. This paper uses an extensive data set from Malawi to explore the nature of both cooperative and noncooperative household bargaining.
","abstract_html":"<p>Matrilineal inheritance practices in Malawi exogenously determine female land holdings at the time of marriage, allowing for the identification of the effect of increased female bargaining power on household consumption decisions. I use the matrilineal ethnicity of the head of household as an instrument for the share of total household land inherited by the female head or male head’s wife. I find that child’s height-for-age decreases with female assets, and evidence suggesting increased consumption from households’ own production. Since the food basket from own consumption is high in carbs but not nutritious, long-term child health suffers despite receiving more resources than their peers. This paper uses an extensive data set from Malawi to explore the nature of both cooperative and noncooperative household bargaining.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Garcia, Nicholas T"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science in International and Development Economics (MSIDEC)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Economics","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Elizabeth Katz"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-05-15T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-05-15T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:42:50Z","subjects":["land inheritance","Malawi","female bargaining","child health","matrilineal","household economics","Agricultural and Resource Economics","Econometrics","Other Economics"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/96","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Elizabeth Katz"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Garcia, Nicholas T"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-06-06T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Economics"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science in International and Development Economics (MSIDEC)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["land inheritance","Malawi","female bargaining","child health","matrilineal","household economics","Agricultural and Resource Economics","Econometrics","Other Economics"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/96"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Matrilineal inheritance practices in Malawi exogenously determine female land holdings at the time of marriage, allowing for the identification of the effect of increased female bargaining power on household consumption decisions. I use the matrilineal ethnicity of the head of household as an instrument for the share of total household land inherited by the female head or male head’s wife. I find that child’s height-for-age decreases with female assets, and evidence suggesting increased consumption from households’ own production. Since the food basket from own consumption is high in carbs but not nutritious, long-term child health suffers despite receiving more resources than their peers. This paper uses an extensive data set from Malawi to explore the nature of both cooperative and noncooperative household bargaining.
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"],"dc:identifier":["https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/96"],"dc:subject":["land inheritance","Malawi","female bargaining","child health","matrilineal","household economics","Agricultural and Resource Economics","Econometrics","Other Economics"],"dc:title":["Matrilineal Asset Inheritance, Female Bargaining Power, and Household Welfare in Malawi"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Economics"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in International and Development Economics (MSIDEC)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:42:50Z"}