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Land Reforms, Status and Population Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Lehmijoki, Ulla

    (University of Helsinki)

  • Palokangas, Tapio K.

    (University of Helsinki)

Abstract

In this document, we consider the effects of a land reform on economic and demographic growth by a family-optimization model with sharecropping, endogenous fertility and status seeking. We show that tenant farming is the major obstacle to escaping the Malthusian trap with high fertility and low productivity. A land reform provides peasant families higher returns for their investments in land, encouraging them to increase their productivity of land rather than their family size. This decreases fertility and increases productivity in agriculture in the short and long runs. The European demographic history provides supporting evidence for this.

Suggested Citation

  • Lehmijoki, Ulla & Palokangas, Tapio K., 2014. "Land Reforms, Status and Population Growth," IZA Discussion Papers 8054, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8054
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1974. "Incentives and Risk Sharing in Sharecropping," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 41(2), pages 219-255.
    2. Chesnais, Jean-Claude, 1992. "The Demographic Transition: Stages, Patterns, and Economic Implications," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198286592.
    3. Ulla Lehmijoki & Tapio Palokangas, 2009. "Population growth overshooting and trade in developing countries," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(1), pages 43-56, January.
    4. Oded Galor & Omer Moav & Dietrich Vollrath, 2009. "Inequality in Landownership, the Emergence of Human-Capital Promoting Institutions, and the Great Divergence," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(1), pages 143-179.
    5. David N. Weil & Oded Galor, 2000. "Population, Technology, and Growth: From Malthusian Stagnation to the Demographic Transition and Beyond," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 806-828, September.
    6. Ulla Lehmijoki & Tapio Palokangas, 2010. "Trade, population growth, and the environment in developing countries," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(4), pages 1351-1370, September.
    7. Fisher, Walter H. & Hof, Franz X., 2005. "Status seeking in the small open economy," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 209-232, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Fabio Sánchez Torres & Marta Juanita Villaveces Niño, 2016. "Tendencias y factores socioeconómicos y espaciales asociados a la adjudicación de baldíos en Colombia, 1961-2010," Documentos CEDE 14577, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    status seeking; population growth; land reforms; sharecropping;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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