Despite the substantial literature on rural land property rights, studies on urban land property rights are rare. Here, we study the impact of an urban land titling program on firm investment. We find that this program leads to an increased investment rate for titling firms, but that this...

A central challenge in securing property rights is the subversion of justice through legal skill, bribery, or physical force by the strong — the state or its powerful citizens — against the weak. We present evidence that the less educated and poorer citizens in many countries feel their...

Formal private property rights (“FPPRs”) have been advocated as an important prerequisite to economic development: a legal right to property ownership motivates economic players to engage in economic activities when these activities yield property interests, and this, in turn, contributes to...