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The Impact of Bequests on Lifetime Wealth Accumulation: An Econometric Study of Two Generations of Rural Households in India

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/7237/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4991.1990.tb00319.x
 
Title The Impact of Bequests on Lifetime Wealth Accumulation: An Econometric Study of Two Generations of Rural Households in India
 
Creator Deolalikar, A B
Singh, R P
 
Subject Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics
 
Description Using retrospective data on bequest receipts and wealth over two generations of rural Indian households, we have estimated the effect of bequest receipts on the lifetime wealth accumulation of recipients. We exploit the availability of data on two generations of the same household by estimating a family fixed effects model that controls for unobserved, intergenerationally-persistent household endowments. Our results suggest an adverse impact of bequest receipts on the wealth accumulation of recipients. This effect is much more negative for the current generation of household heads than for the previous generation, indicating that the disincentive effects associated with bequest receipts have increased substantially over a generation. Such disincentive effects are consistent with the commonly-observed phenomenon of “regression to the mean.” The empirical results also show that the positive association between schooling and wealth accumulation has strengthened substantially over the course of a generation, implying rising returns to schooling.
 
Publisher Blackwell Publishing
 
Date 1990
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
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Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/7237/1/Revi_Income_wealth_36_4_1990.pdf
Deolalikar, A B and Singh, R P (1990) The Impact of Bequests on Lifetime Wealth Accumulation: An Econometric Study of Two Generations of Rural Households in India. Review Of Income And Wealth, 36 (4). pp. 353-364. ISSN 1475-4991