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On the Political Economy of Latin American Land Reforms

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  • Antonia Diaz

    (University of Alicante)

Abstract

Private ownership of land has been stressed in the development literature as key to increasing productivity in the agricultural sector. The beneficiaries of the redistributive land reforms undertaken in many Latin American countries, however, did not receive the individual property right of the land. This paper suggests that this type of reform was a measure intended to favor not the peasantry, but the landed elite of those countries. It is shown that if land is the abundant factor land rent is decreasing with the total amount of privately owned land. Thus, the landed elite favored giving the peasants land under a restricted ownership regime. (Copyright: Elsevier)

Suggested Citation

  • Antonia Diaz, 2000. "On the Political Economy of Latin American Land Reforms," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 3(3), pages 551-571, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:issued:v:3:y:2000:i:3:p:551-571
    DOI: 10.1006/redy.1999.0074
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Grossman, Herschel I, 1994. "Production, Appropriation, and Land Reform," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 705-712, June.
    2. Ray, Debraj & Streufert, Peter A, 1993. "Dynamic Equilibria with Unemployment Due to Undernourishment," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 3(1), pages 61-85, January.
    3. Timothy Besley & Robin Burgess, 2000. "Land Reform, Poverty Reduction, and Growth: Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(2), pages 389-430.
    4. Binswanger, Hans P. & Deininger, Klaus & Feder, Gershon, 1995. "Power, distortions, revolt and reform in agricultural land relations," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 42, pages 2659-2772, Elsevier.
    5. Horowitz, Andrew W, 1993. "Time Paths of Land Reform: A Theoretical Model of Reform Dynamics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 1003-1010, September.
    6. Moene, Karl Ove, 1992. "Poverty and Landownership," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(1), pages 52-64, March.
    7. R. Hirschowitz, 1989. "The Other Path: The Invisible Revolution in the Third World1," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 57(4), pages 266-272, December.
    8. Hans P. Binswanger & Klaus Deininger & Gershon Feder, 1993. "Agricultural Land Relations in the Developing World," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 75(5), pages 1242-1248.
    9. Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 1992. "Labor-Service Tenancy Contracts in a Latin American Context," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 1031-1042, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Fergusson, Leopoldo, 2013. "The political economy of rural property rights and the persistence of the dual economy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 167-181.
    2. Matthias Doepke & Michèle Tertilt, 2009. "Women's Liberation: What's in It for Men?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1541-1591.
    3. Qineti, Artan & Rajcaniova, Miroslava & Braha, Kushtrim & Ciaian, Pavel & Demaj, Jona, 2014. "Land Market Imperfections And Reform Rigidities: A Case Study From Rural Albania," 142nd Seminar, May 29-30, 2014, Budapest, Hungary 169088, European Association of Agricultural Economists.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • 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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