The political economy of rural property rights and the persistence of the dual economy
If property rights in land are so beneficial, why are they not adopted more widely? I propose a theory based on the idea that limited property rights over peasants' plots may be supported by elite landowners (who depend on peasants for labour) to achieve two goals. First, like other distortions...
- Autores:
-
Fergusson Talero, Leopoldo
- Tipo de recurso:
- Work document
- Fecha de publicación:
- 2012
- Institución:
- Universidad de los Andes
- Repositorio:
- Séneca: repositorio Uniandes
- Idioma:
- eng
- OAI Identifier:
- oai:repositorio.uniandes.edu.co:1992/8316
- Acceso en línea:
- http://hdl.handle.net/1992/8316
- Palabra clave:
- Political economy
Institutions
Economic development
Taxation
Property rights
Land
Dualism
Economía política - Investigaciones
Distribución de tierras - Aspectos económicos
Derecho de propiedad - Investigaciones
H2, N10, O1, O10, P16
- Rights
- openAccess
- License
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
| Summary: | If property rights in land are so beneficial, why are they not adopted more widely? I propose a theory based on the idea that limited property rights over peasants' plots may be supported by elite landowners (who depend on peasants for labour) to achieve two goals. First, like other distortions such as taxation, limited property rights reduce peasants' income from their own plots, generating a cheap labour force. Second, and unlike taxation, they force peasants to remain in the rural sector to protect their property, even if job opportunities appear in the urban sector. The theory identifies conditions under which weak property rights institutions emerge, providing a specific mechanism for the endogenous persistence of inefficient rural institutions as development unfolds. It also predicts a non-monotonic relationship between the quality of rural property rights and land in the hands of peasants. |
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