IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/jsd123/v11y2018i1p56.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Land Titling, Local Governance and Investment: An Empirical Investigation in Tanzania

Author

Listed:
  • Woubet Kassa

Abstract

The role of property rights in resource allocation has been one of the central themes in development economics. Empirical clarity has been lacking; however, due to possible endogeneity of titles, unobserved heterogeneities and the non-experimental nature of the data. In addition, local political arrangements could encroach on the legitimacy and security that government titles provide. This study introduces new information that captures plot owners’ (dis)approval of local governance structures and its implications on the titling-investment relationship. We find that titles will have the expected outcomes when there is higher level of approval of local administrative units by plot owners. Using the 2010/2011 Tanzania Living Standards Measurement Survey data, we show that the effects of titling on investment is positive and sizable. However, the investment return from titling is either negative or nonexistent when there is a higher level of disapproval of the local governing units by plot owners. Simply providing titles might not help investment without underlying changes in local governance and hence perceptions and legitimacy of local governance structures. Investment on land depends not on titling per se, but the future security titling might provide which in turn depends on the sense of approval (or disapproval) owners accord to the local the administrative structure and their functions.

Suggested Citation

  • Woubet Kassa, 2018. "Land Titling, Local Governance and Investment: An Empirical Investigation in Tanzania," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(1), pages 1-56, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:jsd123:v:11:y:2018:i:1:p:56
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/download/71296/40227
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/71296
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Galiani, Sebastian & Schargrodsky, Ernesto, 2010. "Property rights for the poor: Effects of land titling," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(9-10), pages 700-729, October.
    2. Quy-Toan Do & Lakshmi Iyer, 2008. "Land Titling and Rural Transition in Vietnam," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(3), pages 531-579, April.
    3. Feder, Gershon & Feeny, David, 1991. "Land Tenure and Property Rights: Theory and Implications for Development Policy," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 5(1), pages 135-153, January.
    4. Marc F. Bellemare, 2013. "The Productivity Impacts of Formal and Informal Land Rights: Evidence from Madagascar," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 89(2), pages 272-290.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Macours, Karen & Janvry, Alain de & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 2010. "Insecurity of property rights and social matching in the tenancy market," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(7), pages 880-899, October.
    2. Subramanian, Arjunan & Kumar, Parmod, 2024. "Property rights, factor allocation and household welfare: Experimental evidence from a land titling program in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Deininger, Klaus, 2010. "Towards sustainable systems of land administration: Recent evidence and challenges for Africa," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 5(01), pages 1-22, September.
    4. Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Deininger, Klaus & Goldstein, Markus, 2014. "Environmental and gender impacts of land tenure regularization in Africa: Pilot evidence from Rwanda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 262-275.
    5. Wen, Hua & Si, Rijimoleng, 2024. "Research on the impact of land rights certification on farmers’ operating behavior," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    6. Ayalew, Hailemariam & Admasu, Yeshwas & Chamberlin, Jordan, 2021. "Is land certification pro-poor? Evidence from Ethiopia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    7. Deininger, Klaus & Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Alemu, Tekie, 2008. "Impacts of land certification on tenure security, investment, and land markets : evidence from Ethiopia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4764, The World Bank.
    8. beg, Sabrin, 2019. "Computerization and Development: Formalizing Property Rights and its Impact on Land and Labor Allocation," MPRA Paper 96110, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Caio Piza & Mauricio José Serpa Barros de Moura, 2011. "How Does Land Title Affect Access to Credit? Empirical Evidence from an Emerging Economy," Working Paper Series 2211, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    10. Alexei Karas & William Pyle & Koen Schoors, 2015. "A "de Soto Effect" in Industry? Evidence from the Russian Federation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(2), pages 451-480.
    11. Corsi, Stefano & Marchisio, Laura Viviana & Orsi, Luigi, 2017. "Connecting smallholder farmers to local markets: Drivers of collective action, land tenure and food security in East Chad," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 39-47.
    12. Kemper, Niels & Ha, Luu Viet & Klump, Rainer, 2015. "Property Rights and Consumption Volatility: Evidence from a Land Reform in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 107-130.
    13. de Janvry, Alain & Emerick, Kyle & Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 2012. "Certified to Migrate: Property Rights and Migration in Rural Mexico," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt1jk3m3c1, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    14. Alain de Janvry & Kyle Emerick & Marco Gonzalez-Navarro & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2015. "Delinking Land Rights from Land Use: Certification and Migration in Mexico," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3125-3149, October.
    15. Rahmat Aris Pratomo & D. Ary A. Samsura & Erwin van der Krabben, 2020. "Transformation of Local People’s Property Rights Induced by New Town Development (Case Studies in Peri-Urban Areas in Indonesia)," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-24, July.
    16. GIGNOUX, Jeremie & MACOURS, Karen & WREN-LEWIS, Liam, 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 (RAEStud), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 96(3), September.
    17. Noel Maurer & Lakshmi Iyer, 2008. "The Cost of Property Rights: Establishing Institutions on the Philippine Frontier Under American Rule, 1898-1918," NBER Working Papers 14298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Bellemare, Marc F. & Chua, Kenn & Santamaria, Julieth & Vu, Khoa, 2020. "Tenurial security and agricultural investment: Evidence from Vietnam," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    19. Séogo, Windinkonté & Zahonogo, Pam, 2023. "Do land property rights matter for stimulating agricultural productivity? Empirical evidence from Burkina Faso," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    20. Kassa, Woubet, 2014. "Land Titling and Investment In Tanzania: An Empirical Investigation," MPRA Paper 57987, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:jsd123:v:11:y:2018:i:1:p:56. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.