Does insecure land tenure deter investment? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Development Economics
Year: 2021
Volume: 150
Issue: C

Authors (2)

Huntington, Heather (not in RePEc) Shenoy, Ajay (University of California-Santa...)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

There is broad agreement among the most prominent observational studies that tenure insecurity deters investment. We present new experimental evidence testing this proposition: a land certification program randomized across villages in Zambia. Our results contradict the consensus. Though the intervention improved perceptions of tenure security, it had no impact on investment in the following season. The impact is still zero even after a cross-randomized agroforestry extension relaxes financial and technical constraints to agroforestry investment. Though relaxing these constraints has a direct effect, it is not enhanced by granting land tenure, implying tenure insecurity had not been a barrier to investment.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:deveco:v:150:y:2021:i:c:s0304387821000110
Journal Field
Development
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29