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Land Reforms and Economic Development

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  • Gersbach, Hans
  • Siemers, Lars

Abstract

We demonstrate that there is a nexus between land transfers and human capital formation. A sequence of land redistributions enables the beneficiaries to educate their children and thus to escape from poverty and to overcome child labour. We find that open access to land markets should be prohibited for beneficiaries for some time. Moreover, a temporary state of inequality among the poor is unavoidable. Finally, a successful land reform allows for the transition of a society from an agriculture-based state of poverty to a human capital-based developed economy.

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  • Gersbach, Hans & Siemers, Lars, 2005. "Land Reforms and Economic Development," CEPR Discussion Papers 5184, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5184
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    Cited by:

    1. Sushanta K. Mallick, 2014. "Disentangling the Poverty Effects of Sectoral Output, Prices, and Policies in India," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(4), pages 773-801, December.
    2. Faguet, Jean-Paul & Sánchez, Fabio & Villaveces, Marta-Juanita, 2020. "The perversion of public land distribution by landed elites: Power, inequality and development in Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    3. Hans Gersbach & Lars-H. Siemers, 2014. "Can democracy induce development? A constitutional perspective," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 177-196, April.
    4. Gersbach, Hans & Siemers, Lars-H. R., 2010. "Land Reforms And Economic Development," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 527-547, September.
    5. K. Deininger & S. Jin & H. K. Nagarajan, 2009. "Land Reforms, Poverty Reduction, and Economic Growth: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 496-521.
    6. Jean-Paul Faguet & Fabio Sánchez & Marta-Juanita Villaveces, 2015. "Land Reform, Latifundia and Social Development at Local Level in Colombia, 1961-2010," Documentos CEDE 12569, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    7. Deininger, Klaus & Yadav, Vandana, 2011. "Long-term Effects of Land Reform on Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from West Bengal," WIDER Working Paper Series 082, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Bell, Clive & Gersbach, Hans & Schneider, Maik T., 2012. "Raising juveniles," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 32-51.
    9. Muhammad Qasim & Zahid Pervaiz & Amatul Razzaq Chaudhary, 2020. "Do Poverty and Income Inequality Mediate the Association Between Agricultural Land Inequality and Human Development?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 115-134, August.
    10. Faguet, Jean-Paul & Sanches, Fábio & Villaveces, Marta-Juanita, 2016. "The paradox of land reform, inequality and local development in Colombia," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67193, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Miguel Rocha de Sousa, 2016. "Rawlsian Land Reform with Human Capital: A Social Inclusion Process for the Landless ‘Underdog’," International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 6(4), pages 1238-1238.
    12. Deininger, Klaus W. & Jin, Songqing & Yadav, Vandana, 2008. "Impact of Land Reform on Productivity, Land Value and Human Capital Investment: Household Level Evidence from West Bengal," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6277, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Migration; Poverty; Land reform; Transition; land market access;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment

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