Whether the negative relationship between farm size and crop productivity that is confirmed in a large global literature holds in Africa is of considerable policy relevance. Plot-level data from Rwanda point toward constant returns to scale and a strong negative relationship between farm size...

Little is known about land cover change in agroforestry systems, which often supply valuable ecological services. We use a spatial regression model to analyze clearing in El Salvador’s shade coffee–growing regions during the 1990s. Our findings buttress previous research suggesting the...

This paper explores possible strategic interactions between the state and local community in games of tropical forestland appropriation. Three typical cases are discussed, corresponding to a development over time of increased resource competition and market integration. The local response to...

While early attempts at land titling in Africa were often unsuccessful, factors such as new legislation, low-cost methods, and increasing demand for land have generated renewed interest. A four-period panel allows use of a pipeline and difference-indifferences approach to assess impacts of land...

The cotton boom in Burkina Faso consisted of a growth in cotton land shares together with an overall increase in total cultivated land. This paper examines the impact of institutional changes in the cotton sector on the evolution of smallholders’ land-use decisions. The empirical analysis is...

To disentangle the issue concerning which dimensions of land rights, among security, tradability, and pledgeability, affect agricultural outcomes, this paper exploits a unique partial land rights entitlement program in Thailand that guarantees only security, allows a limited access to credit,...

This paper identifies the factors that affect farmers’ decisions to adopt soil and water conservation technology in Africa and how this technology impacts farm yields and net returns. This technology is important because it improves efficiency of water use from rainfall—a critical issue in...

In China, land is reallocated on either a full-scale or a partial basis. By employing a unique farm survey that deliberately draws a distinction between full-scale and partial land reallocations, and by decomposing their respective expropriation risk effects, we find that the significantly...

We study how increases in wealth from rapid appreciation of farmland influenced farmer decisions to borrow, buy land, and expand. Exploiting periods of high and low appreciation and a panel data model that allows for correlation between prior growth trends and the share of land owned, we find...

By distinguishing between the decision to participate in the conservation reserve program (CRP) and the decision for whole-farm vs. part-farm participation, we model participation as separate binary decisions. Our results suggest the farm characteristics and other factors affect the decision to...