Contrary to theories emphasizing the importance of asset ownership for helping the rural poor out of poverty, a study by A. Nilesh Fernando at Harvard shows that in India, inheriting agricultural land can both restrict migration to urban areas (-0.02% per acre) and reduce the likelihood of taking up nonagricultural work in rural areas (-1.8% per acre). The effect of inheriting an additional acre is 10 times as large (-3.4% per acre for migration; -21% per acre for nonagricultural occupations) for those born into families with relatively small landholdings (less than three acres). Because selling, renting, or leaving behind assets is restricted by cultural obligations — in this case, Hindu custom requires that the eldest son in the family support his parents in their old age, which often results in occupational succession — inheriting land can limit mobility for the poor, specifically firstborn sons, and therefore suppress household consumption for firstborn sons and those inheriting early in life.
Source: Shackled to the Soil: The Long-Term Effects of Inherited Land on Labor Mobility and Consumption
