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Economic rationality and informal urban land transactions in Accra, Ghana

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  • ADARKWAH ANTWI
  • JOHN ADAMS

Abstract

It has been argued for some time that the apparently haphazard development of neighbourhoods in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) cities is largely related to the plethora of informal land transactions, which typify many house and land buying purchasing decisions. The authors of this paper question this assertion and develop an alternative view of such purchasing decisions based upon the economics of property rights and the theory of bureaucracy. Using original data from Accra a number of models are developed to examine the implicit argument that urban transactions are typified by nonrational economic behaviour. It is concluded that the evidence points in exactly the opposite direction - that most (if not all) such transactions can be characterized in terms of fully rational economic behaviour and that the latter efficiently and effectively circumvents the bureaucracy, which exists to administer such transactions. It is also concluded that major reforms of the Land Administration system are required in order to enable market forces to more effectively operate whilst the regulatory regime itself needs to be adjusted in order to eliminate market failures which it itself has managed to create.

Suggested Citation

  • Adarkwah Antwi & John Adams, 2003. "Economic rationality and informal urban land transactions in Accra, Ghana," Journal of Property Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 67-90, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jpropr:v:20:y:2003:i:1:p:67-90
    DOI: 10.1080/09599910210159398
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alexander Osei-Owusu & Anders Henten, 2017. "The land rental system and diffusion of telecom infrastructure in Ghana: an institutional and transaction economics approach," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 7(2), pages 183-202, August.
    2. Munshifwa, Ephraim Kabunda, 2023. "Institutional analysis and informal urban settlements: A proposition for a new institutionalist grounded property rights perspective," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    3. Agboola, Alirat Olayinka & Scofield, David & Amidu, Abdul-Rasheed, 2017. "Understanding property market operations from a dual institutional perspective: The case of Lagos, Nigeria," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 89-96.
    4. Adarkwah Yaw Antwi & John Adams, 2003. "Rent-seeking Behaviour and its Economic Costs in Urban Land Transactions in Accra, Ghana," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(10), pages 2083-2098, September.
    5. Manya M. Mooya & Chris E. Cloete, 2007. "Informal Urban Property Markets and Poverty Alleviation: A Conceptual Framework," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(1), pages 147-165, January.
    6. Robert M. Buckley & Ashna Singh Mathema, 2008. "Real Estate Regulations in Accra: Some Macroeconomic Consequences?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(11), pages 2249-2271, October.

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