Delinking Land Rights from Land Use: Certification and Migration in Mexico
American Economic Review
vol. 105,
no. 10, October 2015
(pp. 3125-49)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
In many developing countries property rights over rural land are maintained through continuous personal use instead of by land titles. We show that removing the link between land use and land rights through the issuance of ownership certificates can result in large-scale adjustments to labor and land allocations. Using the rollout of the Mexican land certification program from 1993 to 2006, we find that households obtaining certificates were subsequently 28 percent more likely to have a migrant member. We also show that even though land certification induced migration, it had little effect on cultivated area due to consolidation of farm units. (JEL O13, O17, P14, Q15, Q18, Q24, Q28)Citation
de Janvry, Alain, Kyle Emerick, Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, and Elisabeth Sadoulet. 2015. "Delinking Land Rights from Land Use: Certification and Migration in Mexico." American Economic Review, 105 (10): 3125-49. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20130853Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- O13 Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
- O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
- P14 Capitalist Systems: Property Rights
- Q15 Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
- Q18 Agricultural Policy; Food Policy
- Q24 Renewable Resources and Conservation: Land
- Q28 Renewable Resources and Conservation: Government Policy