Property Rights in a Very Poor Country: Tenure Insecurity and Investment in Ethiopia

This article provides evidence from one of the poorest countries in the world that the institutions of property rights matter for efficiency, investment, and growth. With all land state-owned, the threat of land redistribution never appears far off the agenda. Land rental and leasing have been made...

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Main Authors: Ali, Daniel Ayalew, Dercon, Stefan, Gautam, Madhur
Format: Journal Article
Language:EN
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5532
id okr-10986-5532
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-55322021-04-23T14:02:22Z Property Rights in a Very Poor Country: Tenure Insecurity and Investment in Ethiopia Ali, Daniel Ayalew Dercon, Stefan Gautam, Madhur Measurement and Analysis of Poverty I320 Property Law K110 Economic Development: Agriculture Natural Resources Energy Environment Other Primary Products O130 Formal and Informal Sectors Shadow Economy Institutional Arrangements O170 Land Ownership and Tenure Land Reform Land Use Irrigation Agriculture and Environment Q150 Agricultural Policy Food Policy Q180 This article provides evidence from one of the poorest countries in the world that the institutions of property rights matter for efficiency, investment, and growth. With all land state-owned, the threat of land redistribution never appears far off the agenda. Land rental and leasing have been made legal, but transfer rights remain restricted and the perception of continuing tenure insecurity remains quite strong. Using a unique panel data set, this study investigates whether transfer rights and implied tenure insecurity affect household investment decisions, focusing on trees and shrubs. The panel data estimates suggest that limited perceived transfer rights negatively affects the long-term investment in Ethiopian agriculture, contributing to the low returns from land and perpetuating low growth and poverty. 2012-03-30T07:33:17Z 2012-03-30T07:33:17Z 2011 Journal Article Agricultural Economics 01695150 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5532 EN http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Journal Article Ethiopia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language EN
topic Measurement and Analysis of Poverty I320
Property Law K110
Economic Development: Agriculture
Natural Resources
Energy
Environment
Other Primary Products O130
Formal and Informal Sectors
Shadow Economy
Institutional Arrangements O170
Land Ownership and Tenure
Land Reform
Land Use
Irrigation
Agriculture and Environment Q150
Agricultural Policy
Food Policy Q180
spellingShingle Measurement and Analysis of Poverty I320
Property Law K110
Economic Development: Agriculture
Natural Resources
Energy
Environment
Other Primary Products O130
Formal and Informal Sectors
Shadow Economy
Institutional Arrangements O170
Land Ownership and Tenure
Land Reform
Land Use
Irrigation
Agriculture and Environment Q150
Agricultural Policy
Food Policy Q180
Ali, Daniel Ayalew
Dercon, Stefan
Gautam, Madhur
Property Rights in a Very Poor Country: Tenure Insecurity and Investment in Ethiopia
geographic_facet Ethiopia
relation http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
description This article provides evidence from one of the poorest countries in the world that the institutions of property rights matter for efficiency, investment, and growth. With all land state-owned, the threat of land redistribution never appears far off the agenda. Land rental and leasing have been made legal, but transfer rights remain restricted and the perception of continuing tenure insecurity remains quite strong. Using a unique panel data set, this study investigates whether transfer rights and implied tenure insecurity affect household investment decisions, focusing on trees and shrubs. The panel data estimates suggest that limited perceived transfer rights negatively affects the long-term investment in Ethiopian agriculture, contributing to the low returns from land and perpetuating low growth and poverty.
format Journal Article
author Ali, Daniel Ayalew
Dercon, Stefan
Gautam, Madhur
author_facet Ali, Daniel Ayalew
Dercon, Stefan
Gautam, Madhur
author_sort Ali, Daniel Ayalew
title Property Rights in a Very Poor Country: Tenure Insecurity and Investment in Ethiopia
title_short Property Rights in a Very Poor Country: Tenure Insecurity and Investment in Ethiopia
title_full Property Rights in a Very Poor Country: Tenure Insecurity and Investment in Ethiopia
title_fullStr Property Rights in a Very Poor Country: Tenure Insecurity and Investment in Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Property Rights in a Very Poor Country: Tenure Insecurity and Investment in Ethiopia
title_sort property rights in a very poor country: tenure insecurity and investment in ethiopia
publishDate 2012
url http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5532
_version_ 1764395389990993920