Land Market Restrictions, Women's Labor Force Participation and Wages
37 Pages Posted: 17 Aug 2014
Date Written: August 16, 2014
Abstract
We analyze the effects of land market restrictions on the rural labor market outcomes for women. The land restrictions can have a gender and age bias because of an ex-post asymmetry in migration costs arising from older women's comparative advantage in home goods production. For identification, we exploit a natural experiment in Sri Lanka where historical malaria played a unique role in land policy. We provide robust evidence of a positive effect of land restrictions on women's labor force participation, and negative effects on female wages. The empirical results suggest that the burden of land market restrictions falls disproportionately on older women.
Keywords: Land Market Restrictions, Labor Market, Women's Labor Force Participation, Wage, Sri Lanka, Historical Malaria
JEL Classification: O10, O12, J31, J61
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation