We present a conceptual framework to better understand the interaction between settlement and the emergence of de facto property rights on frontiers prior to governments establishing and enforcing de jure property rights. In this framework, potential rents associated with more exclusivity drives...

Property rights are powerful. They fundamentally shape both the physical world and our social relations within it. Property choices impact how land and other resources are used (or conserved) and who has access to those resources (or who is excluded). At the same time, cultural discourses about...

This paper empirically examines the emergence and functioning of land markets and their impacts on deforestation in Sumatra, Indonesia. While the evolution of land markets is expected to promote deforestation activities by rural households, we find no sizeable impact, due to two major reasons....

Continued growth of agricultural output requires maintenance of the productive capacity of land through time. This paper analizes the linkages between firm size, land tenure and adoption of a soil conservation practice (no-tillage technology). Representative microeconomic data of the principal...

Like most other developing countries, China experiences huge migration outflows from rural areas. Their most striking characteristic is a high geographical and temporal mobility. Rural migrants keep going back and forth between origin villages and destination areas. In this paper, we show that...

The land grabbing issue has produced a plethora of debates ranging from ethical conduct of land grabbing agents, specifically concerning displacement, to evidence for and against positive externalities such as technological spill-overs and construction of infrastructure. An underexplored topic...

Customary rules governing access to land and other natural resources in village societies have characteristics that allow them to fulfil social security functions and achieve equity objectives. This is true of both common-property resources and land parcels held under individualized tenure....

Secure property rights are considered a key determinant of economic development. The evaluation of the causal effects of property rights, however, is a difficult task as their allocation is typically endogenous. To overcome this identification problem, we exploit a natural experiment in the...

Dieses Gutachten im Auftrag des Freistaats Bayern basiert auf einem Fragenkatalog des Bayerischen Landtags zu Entwicklungen und Handlungsoptionen auf dem landwirtschaftlichen Bodenmarkt in Bayern. Die Fragen werden aus agrarökonomischer und rechtswissenschaftlicher Perspektive beantwortet. Eine...

Previous work has shown a pattern of lower household incomes for those Paraguayan farms with female landowners in the household. The study of agricultural production reveals that Paraguayan women specialize in livestock and dairy production, while men specialize in crop production. An analysis...