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Insecurity of Property Rights and Matching in the Tenancy Market

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Author Info
Karen Macours (Johns Hopkins University)
Alain de Janvry (University of California, Berkeley)
Elisabeth Sadoulet (University of California, Berkeley)
Abstract

This paper analyzes the effects of insecure property rights over land on the functioning of the land rental market in the Dominican Republic. It shows that insecurity of property rights not only reduces sharply the level of activity on the land rental market, but also causes market segmentation. A principal-agent framework is used to model the landlord's utility maximization, where he takes into account the risk of losing the land when it is not traded within a narrow local circle of confidence. Using data collected with a methodology that enables to characterize the entire market, we show that insecure property rights lead to matching in the tenancy market along socio-economic lines and hence severely limit access to land for the rural poor. Simulations suggest that improving tenure security would increase the total area rented to the poor by 63%. While a small fraction of this gain is achieved via formal titling, most is obtained through reducing conflicts over land and enhancing protection of property rights. Results also show the importance of minimum working capital endowments for the poor in gaining access to land in the rental market.

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Paper provided by Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley in its series Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series with number 992.

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Date of creation: 01 Aug 2004
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Handle: RePEc:cdl:agrebk:992

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Keywords: agricultural land; land rights; property rights; rents; tenancy;

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Feder, Gershon & Feeny, David, 1991. "Land Tenure and Property Rights: Theory and Implications for Development Policy," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(1), pages 135-53, January.
  2. Jean O. Lanjouw & Philip I. Levy, 2002. "Untitled: A Study of Formal and Informal Property Rights in Urban Ecuador," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(482), pages 986-1019, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Takasaki, Yoshito & Barham, Bradford L. & Coomes, Oliver T., 2000. "Rapid Rural Appraisal in Humid Tropical Forests: An Asset Possession-Based Approach and Validation Methods for Wealth Assessment Among Forest Peasant Households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(11), pages 1961-1977, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Lanjouw, Jean Olson, 1999. "Information and the operation of markets: tests based on a general equilibrium model of land leasing in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 497-527, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Simon Johnson & John McMillan & Christopher Woodruff, 2002. "Property Rights and Finance," NBER Working Papers 8852, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Brasselle, Anne-Sophie & Gaspart, Frederic & Platteau, Jean-Philippe, 2002. "Land tenure security and investment incentives: puzzling evidence from Burkina Faso," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 373-418, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Daniel A. Ackerberg & Maristella Botticini, 1999. "Endogenous Matching and the Empirical Determinants of Contract Form," Boston University - Institute for Economic Development 92, Boston University, Institute for Economic Development.
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  8. Eliana La Ferrara, 2003. "Kin Groups and Reciprocity: A Model of Credit Transactions in Ghana," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1730-1751, December. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Loren Brandt & Dwayne Benjamin, 2002. "Property Rights, Labour Markets, and Efficiency in a Transition Economy: The Case of Rural China," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 518, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross Business School. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Fafchamps, Marcel, 2000. "Ethnicity and credit in African manufacturing," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 205-235, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Besley, Timothy, 1995. "Property Rights and Investment Incentives: Theory and Evidence from Ghana," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(5), pages 903-37, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Hanan G. Jacoby & Guo Li & Scott Rozelle, 2002. "Hazards of Expropriation: Tenure Insecurity and Investment in Rural China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1420-1447, December. [Downloadable!]
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  16. Erica Field, 2002. "Entitled to Work: Urban Property Rights and Labor Supply in Peru," Working Papers 180, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies.. [Downloadable!]
  17. Barbara Petrongolo & Christopher A. Pissarides, 2001. "Looking into the Black Box: A Survey of the Matching Function," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 390-431, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Linda Y. Wong, 2003. "Why so only 5.5% of Black Men Marry White Women?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 44(3), pages 803-826, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Becker, Gary S, 1973. "A Theory of Marriage: Part I," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(4), pages 813-46, July-Aug.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Barro, Robert J, 1996. " Democracy and Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-27, March.
  21. Suen, Wing & Lui, Hon-Kwong, 1999. "A Direct Test of the Efficient Marriage Market Hypothesis," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 37(1), pages 29-46, January.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Jonathan Conning & James A. Robinson, 2005. "Property Rights and the Political Organization of Agriculture," Hunter College Department of Economics Working Papers 405, Hunter College: Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2007. "Toward a territorial approach to rural development," The Electronic Journal of Agricultural and Development Economics, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, vol. 4(1), pages 66-98. [Downloadable!]
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