Matrilineal inheritance practices in Malawi exogenously
determine female land holdings at the time of marriage, allowing for
the identification of the effect of increased female bargaining power on
household consumption decisions. I use the matrilineal ethnicity of the
head of household as an instrument for the share of total household
land inherited by the female head or male head’s wife. I find that child’s
height-for-age decreases with female assets, and evidence suggesting
increased consumption from households’ own production. Since the
food basket from own consumption is high in carbs but not nutritious,
long-term child health suffers despite receiving more resources than
their peers. This paper uses an extensive data set from Malawi to
explore the nature of both cooperative and noncooperative household
bargaining.