Property rights in a very poor country: tenure insecurity and investment in Ethiopia

This paper provides evidence from one of the poorest countries of 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 leg...

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Manylion Llyfryddiaeth
Prif Awduron: Dercon, S, Ayalew, D, Gautam, M
Fformat: Working paper
Cyhoeddwyd: University of Oxford 2005
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author Dercon, S
Ayalew, D
Gautam, M
author_facet Dercon, S
Ayalew, D
Gautam, M
author_sort Dercon, S
collection OXFORD
description This paper provides evidence from one of the poorest countries of 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 tenure insecurity affect household investment decisions, focusing on trees and shrubs. The panel data estimates suggest that limited perceive transfer rights, and the threat of expropriation, negatively affects the long-term investment in Ethiopian agriculture, contributing to the low returns from land and perpetuating low growth and poverty.
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spelling oxford-uuid:e1786518-c0a5-42ec-a733-c4d0bfd0c1a22022-03-27T09:54:45ZProperty rights in a very poor country: tenure insecurity and investment in EthiopiaWorking paperhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_8042uuid:e1786518-c0a5-42ec-a733-c4d0bfd0c1a2Symplectic ElementsBulk import via SwordUniversity of Oxford2005Dercon, SAyalew, DGautam, MThis paper provides evidence from one of the poorest countries of 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 tenure insecurity affect household investment decisions, focusing on trees and shrubs. The panel data estimates suggest that limited perceive transfer rights, and the threat of expropriation, negatively affects the long-term investment in Ethiopian agriculture, contributing to the low returns from land and perpetuating low growth and poverty.
spellingShingle Dercon, S
Ayalew, D
Gautam, M
Property rights in a very poor country: tenure insecurity and investment in Ethiopia
title 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_short 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
work_keys_str_mv AT dercons propertyrightsinaverypoorcountrytenureinsecurityandinvestmentinethiopia
AT ayalewd propertyrightsinaverypoorcountrytenureinsecurityandinvestmentinethiopia
AT gautamm propertyrightsinaverypoorcountrytenureinsecurityandinvestmentinethiopia