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Land Reform, Latifundia and Social Development at Local Level in Colombia, 1961-2010

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  • Jean-Paul Faguet
  • Fabio Sánchez
  • Marta-Juanita Villaveces

Abstract

The paper analyzes the effects of land reform on social development –poverty and land distribution- at the local level. Land reform in Colombia, understood as the allocation of public land to peasant, has granted 23 million hectares which comprises around 20% of Colombian territory and about 50% of usable productive land. Theoretically, the net impact of land reform on development is the combination of a poverty effect and a land distribution effect. Our findings suggest that land reform from 1961 onwards has slightly reduced poverty and mildly improved land distribution. Nonetheless, municipalities with strong presence of latifundia prior to 1961 have experienced both a slower drop in poverty and a weaker improvement of land distribution. This paper finds that prevalence of latifundia partially offset the positive effect of land reform in promoting social development.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Paul Faguet & Fabio Sánchez & Marta-Juanita Villaveces, 2015. "Land Reform, Latifundia and Social Development at Local Level in Colombia, 1961-2010," Documentos de Trabajo 12503, Universidad del Rosario.
  • Handle: RePEc:col:000092:012503
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    Cited by:

    1. Laura Montenegro Helfer, 2017. "Forming State through Land Reform Policy: The Dynamics of Baldío Allocation in Peripheral Colombia," Documentos CEDE 15433, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Land reform; land distribution; latifundia; poverty; local economic development; Colombia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • N16 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • H27 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Other Sources of Revenue

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