Land institutions and land markets

Abstract

Assignment of land rights affects equity and efficiency, determining among other things households' ability to generate subsistence and income, their social and economic status, incentives to exert effort and make investments, and access to financial markets and consumption-smoothing mechanisms. The chapter discusses costs and benefits of the transition towards individualized land rights. It reviews how characteristics of the agricultural production process, credit access, portfolio risk, and transaction costs affect functioning of land sales and rental markets. Policy conclusions are drawn concerning the transition from communal to individualized land rights, award of formal titles, improved functioning of land sales and rental markets, and redistributive land reform.