This article extends the debate on gender and property rights that has previously focused on agricultural land in rural areas to housing in urban areas. Specifically, it explores the impact of joint titling of houses on women's empowerment in urban informal settlements in Chandigarh, India. Property rights increase women's participation in decision making, access to knowledge and information about public matters, sense of security, self-esteem, and the respect that they receive from their spouses. Women display a higher attachment to their houses than men, especially after getting joint titles, because houses play a valuable role in fulfilling women's practical and strategic gender needs. This increased attachment to the house helps reduce property turnover in regularized settlements, hence assisting the government in attaining its goals and making joint titling a win-win policy.Joint titles, property rights, informal settlements, gender, housing, India, JEL Codes: I38, H53, J16,
This study estimates the impact on jobs from power transmission lines constructed by Powerlinks Transmission Limited (PTL), a joint venture company supported by IFC, which helped bring power from a Bhutanese hydropower plant to India. The project had a significant development impact in both India and Bhutan. Unlike most studies that focus on jobs created through construction and operations and maintenance (O&M) (Category 1 jobs) of power projects, this study looks at employment effects more comprehensively by including estimates for second-order growth effects (Category 2 jobs)-i.e. those jobs that are created as the increase in power supply brought by PTL helps firms expand output and hence create more jobs. The study uses a mix of methodologies including Input Output models, econometric time series models and step-by-step estimation to determine the different types of employment effects. It finds that indirect and induced jobs created through an investment in power are much larger than the number of direct jobs created. But the most significant employment effect is from second-order growth (category 2 jobs that were created because the increased power supply relieved a key constraint for firms in India.) The project also had a broader poverty-reduction impact because the transmission lines were constructed through some of the poorest states in India. In addition, a large proportion of induced jobs were in the agricultural sector, creating employment and income for the rural low-skilled population.
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