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Property rights, factor allocation and household welfare: Experimental evidence from a land titling program in India

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  • Subramanian, Arjunan
  • Kumar, Parmod

Abstract

Increasing evidence shows the significance of de jure land ownership in determining agricultural productivity, yet the causal evidence of the effectiveness of land rights is scarce. We leverage experimental variation induced by nudging Indian farmers to obtain formal land titles. We find that titling increases agricultural investments, crop productivity, and paddy profits. We identify the tenancy security as the potential channel for impact from titling on the labour market and collateral effect for higher investment. Farmers respond to titling by releasing locked-in family labour, and those who obtain land titles make welfare gains and recover the full cost of titling.

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  • Subramanian, Arjunan & Kumar, Parmod, 2024. "Property rights, factor allocation and household welfare: Experimental evidence from a land titling program in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:167:y:2024:i:c:s0304387823001943
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103238
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agriculture; Factor misallocation; Land title; Randomized controlled trial;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment

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