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Land tenure and land-use in a developing city: A quantitative spatial model applied to Kampala, Uganda

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  • Bird, Julia
  • Venables, Anthony J.

Abstract

Land rights and tenure systems are an important factor behind poor housing and inefficient land-use in developing country cities. In Kampala, Uganda, four systems of land tenure coexist, allowing a detailed study of the effects of these on household and firm location decisions. Spatially disaggregated data across the city suggest that the presence of a traditional land tenure system (called mailo) skews land-use towards informal housing and away from business and commercial activities. Using a structural model of the city we show that this due to mailo having a positive value for its occupants, attributable to mailo-specific amenity benefits and/ or rent caps. We use the model to investigate the effect of converting all mailo land in the city to leasehold. Despite direct loss of amenity experienced by mailo residents, aggregate city income may rise substantially because of more efficient land-use. Manufacturing firms move into formerly mailo areas and form new clusters of activity. This increases urban wages, particularly among the low skilled, and raises aggregate urban real incomes by 2% in the absence of localisation economies and as much as 6.7% in the presence of such economies of scale.

Suggested Citation

  • Bird, Julia & Venables, Anthony J., 2020. "Land tenure and land-use in a developing city: A quantitative spatial model applied to Kampala, Uganda," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:119:y:2020:i:c:s0094119020300395
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2020.103268
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sturm,Daniel Marbod & Takeda,Kohei & Venables,Anthony J., 2022. "Exploring the Urban Model : Employment, Housing, and Infrastructure," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9910, The World Bank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Urban; Land-tenure; Land-use; Quantitative spatial model; Uganda;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R3 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location
    • R52 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Land Use and Other Regulations

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