A deficit in the theorisation of psychological elements of agency and empowerment in development literature exists. To address, I present the results of an empirical study using exploratory mixed methods examining central factors contributing to initiatives people undertake to improve personal...

The impact of small-scale irrigation investments on household consumption, assets, and informal insurance is estimated from a panel of Northern Malian households (1998–2006). Access to irrigation increases household consumption by 27–30% relative to water-recession and rain-fed cultivators....

Recent research has emphasized the role of land tenure in influencing rural food and nutrition insecurity in developing countries. We use data from rural Myanmar to empirically analyze the links between land holdings and household level food and nutrition security. Our analysis focuses on the...

This essay introduces five papers investigating land tenure issues related to conserving tropical forests via incentive-based strategies (e.g., PES, REDD+). After briefly reviewing key terms and concepts, we point to important contributions from the papers regarding (a) a deeper theoretical and...

Resurgent interest in agriculture raises issues about agrarian structure and the balance between large and small farms that have thus far been addressed mainly from a smallholder angle. We identify economic and policy factors that contributed to episodes of large farm growth, their impact, and...

This paper analyzes deforestation in areas of overlapping land tenure in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon. We use a random coefficients model to test for differences in forest cover across tenure forms over time. Tenure categories are significantly associated with changes in deforestation, even...