The British Academy Brian Barry Prize Essay: Can Religious Norms Undermine Effective Property Rights?: Evidence from Inheritance Rights of Widows in Colonial India

Abstract

Religious norms can undermine the effects of property rights institutions. Districts in colonial India that provided widows with rights to inherit the joint-family property of their deceased husband had significantly higher widow immolations than districts that did not. Religious elites (Brahmins) burnt disproportionately more widows, and widow immolations were higher in regions with a higher density of religious elites. The findings indicate that egalitarianism requires egalitarians. Elite norms embedded in religion can mediate the effects of property rights and lead to negative consequences.Keywords: property rights; violence against women; inheritance; religious norms Property rights institutions are widely believed to have a positive effect on development outcomes. 1 Social scientists have long argued that cultural norms such as intrinsic values, 2 social capital 3 and interpersonal trust 4 mediate the effect of institutions on development. 5 Nevertheless, there are limits to this mediation. Strong institutions can overcome cultural barriers. 6 Alternatively, institutions implement the cultural preferences of those in power. If property rights are in place, they already represent the preferences of the ruling coalition. As a consequence, strong property rights institutions created by those in power should increase the welfare of the recipients of property.This article presents one channel through which this logic might not hold. It demonstrates that property rights institutions can have a negative effect on their recipients if a subset of affected

Reconstruct the Paradigm Shift of Inheritance Rights for Balinese Hindu Women

“…More firmly, a son as a descendant is irreplaceable given the belief that the son is a rebirth (punarbawa/punarbhava), which means that the son is a reincarnation (soul) who is bound by karmic debt from previous incarnations and must reincarnate into the mortal world with certainty new physical bodies (humans, gods, animals, reptiles, or other body types) to enjoy or suffer the consequences of actions. As a result, an heir and his heir must have a genetic relationship 39 . In Balinese adat law, there was still an imbalance in the issue of inheritance, with daughters having fewer rights than sons.…”

“…Denpasar: Swasta Nulus and Bali Shanti: 124-125. 39 Ndun, H. C., Suttor, S., & Widhiyaastuti, I. G. A. A. D. (2018).…”

The Third Function of Law is to Transform Cultural Categories

“…Two dramatic examples are laws in India that were intended to help women but caused many women and girls to die. In colonial India, enforcement of the right of widows to inherit property from their husbands strengthened the norm of widow immolation (sati) (Kulkarni 2017). In the period for which data are available, 1815-1821, the enforcement of inheritance rights for widows led to an average increase per district of between 115 and 437 widow immolations (the mean number of immolations in a district was 153 where districts gave widows inheritance rights, and 25 where they did not).…”