The Productivity Impacts of Formal and Informal Land Rights: Evidence from Madagascar

Bellemare, Marc F. (2012): The Productivity Impacts of Formal and Informal Land Rights: Evidence from Madagascar. Forthcoming in: Land Economics

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between land rights and agricultural productivity. Whereas previous studies used proxies for soil quality and instrumental variables to control for the endogeneity of land titles, the data used here include precise soil quality measurements, which in principle allow controlling for the unobserved heterogeneity between plots. Empirical results suggest that formal land rights (i.e., land titles) have no impact on productivity, but that informal land rights (i.e., landowners’ subjective perceptions of what they can and cannot do with their plots) have heterogeneous impacts on productivity.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Institutions, Property Rights, Land, Productivity
• Subjects: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q15 - Land Ownership and Tenure ; Land Reform ; Land Use ; Irrigation ; Agriculture and Environment; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products; K - Law and Economics > K1 - Basic Areas of Law > K11 - Property Law; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O12 - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

References

Acemoglu, Daron, and Simon Johnson. 2005. “Unbundling Institutions.” Journal of Political Economy 113(5): 949-995.

Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. 2001. “The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation.” American Economic Review 91(5): 1369-1401.

Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. 2005. “Institutions as the Fundamental Cause of Economic Development.” In Handbook of Economic Growth, eds. Philippe Aghion and Steven Durlauf. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Atwood, David A. 1990. “Land Registration in Africa: The Impact on Agricultural Production.” World Development 18(5): 659-71.

Baker, Matthew, Thomas Miceli, C.F. Sirmans, and Geoffrey K. Turnbull. 2001. “Property Rights by Squatting: Land Ownership Risk and Adverse Possession Statutes.” Land Economics 77(3): 360-370.

Barrett, Christopher B., Marc F. Bellemare, and Janet Y. Hou. 2010. “Reconsidering Conventional Explanations of the Inverse Productivity Relationship.” World Development 38(1): 88-97.

Barrett, Christopher B., and Michael R. Carter. 2010. “The Power and Pitfalls of Experiments in Development Economics: Some Non-Random Reflections.” Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy 32(4): 515-548.

Bellemare, Marc F. 2012. “Insecure Land Rights and Share Tenancy in Madagascar.” Land Economics 88(1): forthcoming . Bernstein, Lisa. 1992. “Opting Out of the Legal System: Extralegal Contractual Relations in the Diamond Industry.” Journal of Legal Studies 21(1): 115-157.

Bertrand, Alain, Philippe Karpe, and Sigrid Aubert. 2008. “Le statut juridique des terres: Perspectives historiques et sociales.” In Population rurale et enjeux fonciers à Madagascar, ed. Frédéric Sandron. Paris: Karthala.

Besley, Timothy. 1995. “Property Rights and Investment Incentives: Theory and Evidence from Ghana.” Journal of Political Economy 103(5): 903-937.

Besley, Timothy, and Maitreesh Ghatak. 2009. “The de Soto Effect.” Working Paper, London School of Economics.

Blanc-Pamard, Chantal, and Hervé Rakoto Ramiarantsoa. 2000. Le terroir et son double. Tsarahonenana 1966-1992. Paris: IRD.

Brasselle, Anne-Sophie, Frédéric Gaspart, and Jean-Philippe Platteau. 2002. “Land Tenure Security and Investment Incentives: Puzzling Evidence from Burkina Faso.” Journal of Development Economics 67(2): 373-418.

Carter, Michael R., and Pedro Olinto. 2003. “Getting Institutions “Right” for Whom? Credit Constraints and the Impact of Property Rights on the Quantity and Composition of Investment.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 85(1): 173-186.

Dabat, Marie-Hélène, and Rolland Razafindraibe. 2008. “Des terres, des hommes et du riz: Accès au capital foncier et performance économique.” In Population rurale et enjeux fonciers à Madagascar, ed. Frédéric Sandron. Paris: Karthala.

Deininger, Klaus, and Songqing Jin. 2003. “The Impact of Property Rights on Households’ Investment, Risk Coping, and Policy Preferences: Evidence from China.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 51(4): 851-82.

Delavande, Adeline, Xavier Giné, and David McKenzie. 2009. “Measuring Subjective Expectations in Developing Countries: A Critical Review and New Evidence.” Journal of Development Economics 94(2): 151-163.

Dercon, Stefan, and Daniel Ayalew. 2007. “Land Rights, Power, and Trees in Rural Ethiopia.” Working Paper, University of Oxford.

de Soto, Hernando. 2000. The Mystery of Capital, New York: Basic Books.

Duflo, Esther, Rachel Glennerster, and Michael Kremer. 2008. “Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: A Toolkit.” In Handbook of Development Economics, eds. T. Paul Schultz and John A. Strauss. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Feder, Gershon, and Raymond Noronha. 1987. “Land Rights Systems and Agricultural Development in Sub-Saharan Africa.” World Bank Research Observer 2(2): 143-169.

Feder, Gershon, and David Feeny. 1991. “Land Tenure and Property Rights: Theory and Implications for Development Policy.” World Bank Economic Review 5(1): 135-153.

Federico, Giovanni. 2005. Feeding the World. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Fenske, James. 2010. “L’Étranger: Status, Property Rights, and Investment Incentives in Côte d’Ivoire.” Land Economics 86(4): 621-644.

Goldstein, Markus, and Christopher Udry. 2008. “The Profits of Power: Land Rights and Agricultural Investment in Ghana.” Journal of Political Economy 116(6): 981-1022.

Graeber, David. 1995. “Dancing with Corpses Reconsidered: An Interpretation of Famadihana (in Arivonimamo, Madagascar).” American Ethnologist 22(2): 258-278.

Herbst, Jeffrey. 2000. States and Power in Africa. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

International Monetary Fund. 2011. “World Economic Outlook Database.” http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2011/02/weodata/index.aspx last accessed November 19, 2011.

Jacoby, Hanan G., and Bart Minten. 2007. “Is Land Titling in Sub-Saharan Africa Cost-Effective? Evidence from Madagascar.” World Bank Economic Review 21(3): 461-485.

Migot-Adholla, Shem, Peter Hazell, Benoît Blarel, and Frank Place. 1991. “Indigenous Land Rights Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Constraint on Productivity?” World Bank Economic Review 5(1): 155-175.

Millennium Challenge Corporation. 2011. “Madagascar.” http://www.mcc.gov/pages/countries/overview/madagascar last accessed December 28, 2011.

Pearl, Judea. 2009. “Causal Inference in Statistics: An Overview.” Statistics Surveys 3(2009): 96-146.

Place, Frank. 2009. “Land Tenure and Agricultural Productivity in Africa: A Comparative Analysis of the Economics Literature and Recent Policy Strategies and Reforms.” World Development 37(8): 1326-1336.

Platteau, Jean-Philippe. 1996. “The Evolutionary Theory of Land Rights as Applied to Sub-Saharan Africa: A Critical Assessment.” Development and Change 27(1): 29-86.

PNF. 2010. Rapport d’activités – Année 2010. Antananarivo: Government of Madagascar.

Republic of Madagascar. 2005. Loi 2005-019 du 17 octobre 2005 fixant les principes régissant les statuts des terres. Antananarivo: Government of Madagascar.

Republic of Madagascar. 2006. Projet de décret portant application de la loi 2006-031 du 24 novembre 2006 fixant le régime juridique de la propriété foncière privée non titrée. Antananarivo: Government of Madagascar.

Republic of Madagascar. 2008a. Projet de décret portant application de la loi 2008-013 du 23 juillet 2008 sur le domaine public. Antananarivo: Government of Madagascar.

Republic of Madagascar. 2008b. Projet de loi sur le domaine privé de l’État, des collectivités décentralisées et des personnes morales de droit public. Antananarivo: Government of Madagascar.

Ruud, Jørgen. 1960. Taboo: A Study of Malagasy Customs and Beliefs. Oslo: Oslo University Press.

Sandron, Frédéric. 2008. “L’enjeu du foncier pour les populations rurales.” In Population rurale et enjeux fonciers à Madagascar, ed. Frédéric Sandron. Paris: Karthala.

Shepherd, Keith D., and Markus G. Walsh. 2002. “Development of Reflectance Spectral Libraries for Characterization of Soil Properties.” Soil Science Society of America Journal 66(3): 988-998.

Stifel, David, Marcel Fafchamps, and Bart Minten. 2011. “Taboos, Agriculture, and Productivity.” Journal of Development Studies 47(10): 1455-1481.

Stock, James H., and Motohiro Yogo. 2002. “Testing for Weak Instruments in Linear IV Regression.” Working Paper, National Bureau of Economic Research.

Teyssier, André, Rija Rainavoarison, and Zo Ravelamanantsoa. 2007. “L’information géographique, clé de voûte de la réforme foncière malagasy.” Conference Paper, GéoCongrès Conference, Québec City, October 2-5, 2007.

Teyssier, André, Zo Ravelomanantsoa, and Henri Raharison. 2008. “La réforme foncière ou le pari de la compétence locale.” In Population rurale et enjeux fonciers à Madagascar, ed. Frédéric Sandron. Paris: Karthala.

Udry, Christopher. 1996. “Gender, Agricultural Production, and the Theory of the Household.” Journal of Political Economy 104(5): 1010-1046.

Woodruff, Christopher. 2001. “Review of de Soto’s The Mystery of Capital.” Journal of Economic Literature 39(4): 1215-1223.