At the 33rd Annual IAFFE Conference on July 4, 2025, Cheryl Doss (Tufts University) presented Half of Whole or All of Half? Exploring Preferences and Understandings of Joint Property Ownership, a paper co-authored with Martina Querejeta (Universidad de la República), and Marya Hillesland (KIT institute and University of Oxford). The presentation examined how individuals conceptualize joint property ownership and the implications for policy and research on household decision-making and asset control.
Later that morning, Supriya Lakhtakia (Indian Institute of Management Bangalore) presented Who Keeps the Property? Evidence from Karnataka, India, a paper written with Hema Swaminathan (Indian Institute of Management Bangalore), Cheryl Doss, and Marya Hillesland. This paper drew on survey data to investigate gendered dynamics of property ownership and retention within households.
Both sessions contributed to a broader discussion on how property rights are defined, understood, and exercised in practice, with important implications for research on women’s economic empowerment.
International Food Policy Research Institute