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Property Rights Imperfections, Asset Allocation, and Welfare: Co-Ownership in Bulgaria

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  • Vranken, Liesbet
  • Macours, Karen
  • Noev, Nivelin
  • Swinnen, Johan F.M.

Abstract

This paper analyzes how imperfections of property rights affect allocation of assets and welfare, using micro-survey data from Bulgaria. Co-ownership of assets is widespread in many countries due to inheritance. Central and Eastern Europe offers an interesting natural experiment to assess the effects of such rights imperfections because of the asset restitution process in the 1990s. Bulgaria is particularly interesting because of the prominence of the co-ownership problem (about half of all land plots are co-owned), because of the strong fragmentation of land, and because of legislation providing an instrument to separate out chosen (endogenous) versus forced (exogenous) forms of coownership. We find that land in co-ownership is much more likely to be used by less efficient farm organizations or to be left abandoned, and that it leads to significant welfare losses.

Suggested Citation

  • Vranken, Liesbet & Macours, Karen & Noev, Nivelin & Swinnen, Johan F.M., 2007. "Property Rights Imperfections, Asset Allocation, and Welfare: Co-Ownership in Bulgaria," 104th Seminar, September 5-8, 2007, Budapest, Hungary 7795, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:eaa104:7795
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.7795
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    Cited by:

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    3. Jérémie GIGNOUX & Karen MACOURS & Liam WREN-LEWIS, 2015. "Impact of land administration programs on agricultural productivity and rural development: existing evidence, challenges and new approaches," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 96(3), pages 467-498.
    4. Johan Swinnen, & Kristine Van Herck & Liesbet Vranken, 2014. "The Diversity of Land Institutions in Europe," LICOS Discussion Papers 35514, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    5. Karen Macours & Johan Swinnen, 2006. "Rural Poverty in Transition Countries," LICOS Discussion Papers 16906, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    6. Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob & Lunduka, Rodney W. & Kanyamuka, Joseph Samuel & Jumbe, Charles & Kaiyatsa, Stevier & Chamberlin, Jordan, 2017. "Do Farm Land Rental Markets Really Promote Efficiency, Equity and Investment in Smallholder African Agriculture? Evidence from a Matched Tenant-Landlord Survey in Malawi," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258391, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Macours, Karen, 2014. "Ethnic divisions, contract choice, and search costs in the Guatemalan land rental market," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 1-18.
    8. Macours, Karen & Swinnen, Johan F.M., 2008. "Rural-Urban Poverty Differences in Transition Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2170-2187, November.
    9. Ivan Takáč & Jarmila Lazíková & Ľubica Rumanovská & Anna Bandlerová & Zuzana Lazíková, 2020. "The Factors Affecting Farmland Rental Prices in Slovakia," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-18, March.
    10. Suresh Chaudhary & Yukuan Wang & Amod Mani Dixit & Narendra Raj Khanal & Pei Xu & Bin Fu & Kun Yan & Qin Liu & Yafeng Lu & Ming Li, 2020. "A Synopsis of Farmland Abandonment and Its Driving Factors in Nepal," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-22, March.

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