Communal Land and Agricultural Productivity
Journal
Journal of Development Economics
ISSN
0304-3878
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2019-05
Author(s)
Abstract
Communal land tenure is prevalent across many developing countries. It implements a “use it or lose it” principle that allows owners to farm their land but restricts their right to transfer it away. This paper measures the distortionary impact of communal land in a dynamic general equilibrium model of occupational selection, calibrated to Ethiopia. We find that lifting communal land tenure increases GDP by 9% and lowers agricultural employment by 18 percentage points. While agricultural productivity increases, that of non-agriculture drops. Communal land tenure helps rationalizing about one-half of the relative agricultural productivity gap in the poorest economies. Its impact on aggregate productivity, though, is comparatively minor.
Language
English
Keywords
Agricultural productivity
Growth and Development
Misallocation
Land
Africa
Ethiopia
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
SEPS - Quantitative Economic Methods
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Elsevier
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
249987
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Name
CLAP_2016.pdf
Size
755.95 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
1b24ba56be1221ab1489a2856b77ff4f