Insecurity of Property Rights and Matching in the Tenancy Market

This paper analyzes the functioning of land rental markets in the Dominican Republic using a new data set collected specifically to characterize the entire market. We analyze the choice of the landlords and the tenants in the search for the optimal partner. We show how insecure property rights leads to segmentation in the tenancy markets along socio-economic group and hence severely limits access to land for the rural poor.insecurity of property rights, land markets, matching, Risk and Uncertainty,

INSECURITY OF PROPERTY RIGHTS AND MATCHING IN THE TENANCY MARKET

This paper analyzes the effects of insecure property rights over land on the functioning of the land rental market in the Dominican Republic. It shows that insecurity of property rights not only reduces the level of activity of the land rental market, but also causes market segmentation. A principal-agent framework is used to model the utility maximization of both the tenant and the landlord, where the landlord accounts for the risk of losing the land when it is not traded within a narrow local circle of confidence. Using data collected with a new methodology that enable the entire market to be characterized, we show that insecure property rights lead to matching in the tenancy markets along socio-economic group and hence severely limit access to land for the rural poor. Our results also show the importance of a minimum endowment of assets to obtain access to land in the rental market.Land Economics/Use,

Land Titles and Conflicts in Guatemala

This paper analyzes the impact of formal property rights on plot use and credit access in 20 communities in Guatemala, and shows how these impacts differ depending on the community conflict context. The paper proposes a new instrument based on detailed information about the geographic location of the plots and historical titling processes to address the endogeneity concerns that are common in the property rights literature. The paper sheds light on whether the effect of land titles on plot use and credit access varies with the prevalence of conflicts and different types of conflict resolution mechanisms. The findings suggest that these factors might be crucial to understand the potential impacts on plot use of possible titling programs.Land titling, Conflicts, Latin America

Leveling the Intra-household Playing Field: Compensation and Specialization in Child Labor Allocation

This paper analyzes changes in the allocation of child labor within the household in reaction to exogenous shocks created by a social program in Nicaragua. The paper shows that households that randomly received a conditional cash transfer compensated for some of the intra-household differences, as they reduced child labor more for older boys who used to work more and for boys who were further behind in school. The results also show that households that randomly received a productive investment grant, in addition to the basic conditional cash transfer benefits, both targeted at women, show an increased specialization of older girls in nonagricultural and domestic work, but no overall increase in girls' child labor. The findings suggest that time allocation and specialization patterns in child labor within the household are important factors to understand the impact of a social program.Child labor; intra-household; human capital; impact evaluation; gender

Cash transfers, behavioral changes, and cognitive development in early childhood : evidence from a randomized experiment

A variety of theories of skill formation suggest that investments in schooling and other dimensions of human capital will have lower returns if children do not have adequate levels of cognitive and social skills at an early age. This paper analyzes the impact of a randomized cash transfer program on cognitive development in early childhood in rural Nicaragua. It shows that the program had significant effects on cognitive outcomes, especially language. Impacts are larger for older pre-school age children, who are also more likely to be delayed. The program increased intake of nutrient-rich foods, early stimulation, and use of preventive health care-all of which have been identified as risk factors for development in early childhood. Households increased expenditures on these inputs more than can be accounted for by the increases in cash income only, suggesting that the program changed parents'behavior. The findings suggest that gains in early childhood development outcomes should be taken into account when assessing the benefits of cash transfer programs in developing countries. More broadly, the paper illustrates that gains in early childhood development can result from interventions that facilitate investments made by parents to reduce risk factors for cognitive development.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Educational Sciences,Youth and Governance,Primary Education,Street Children

Changing households'investments and aspirations through social interactions : evidence from a randomized transfer program

Low aspirations can limit households’ investments and contribute to sustained poverty. Vice versa, increased aspirations can lead to investment and upward mobility. Yet how aspirations are formed is not always well understood. This paper analyzes the role of social interactions in determining aspirations in the context of a program aimed at increasing households'investments. The causal effect of social interactions is identified through the randomized assignment of leaders and other beneficiaries to three different interventions within each treatment community. Social interactions are found to affect households’ attitudes toward the future and to amplify program impacts on investments in human capital and productive activities. The empirical evidence indicates that communication with motivated and successful nearby leaders can lead to higher aspirations and corresponding investment behavior.Debt Markets,Labor Policies,Investment and Investment Climate,Primary Education,Housing&Human Habitats

Seasonal Migration and Early Childhood Development

This paper provides unique evidence of the positive consequences of seasonal migration for investments in early childhood development. We analyse migration in a poor shock-prone border region in rural Nicaragua where it offers one of the main household income diversification and risk coping strategies. IV estimates show, somewhat surprisingly, that mother?s migration has a positive effect on early cognitive development. We attribute these findings to changes in income and to the intra-household empowerment gains resulting from mother?s migration, which offset potential negative ECD effects from temporary lack of parenting. This paper, hence, illustrates how increased opportunities in seasonal migration due to higher South?South mobility might positively affect early childhood development and as such long term poverty reduction.Nicaragua, migration, income, households

Property rights imperfections and asset allocation: co-ownership in Bulgaria.

This paper analyzes how imperfections of property rights affect households’ allocation of assets using micro-survey data from Bulgaria. Co-ownership of assets is widespread in many countries due to inheritance. Central and Eastern Europe offers an interesting natural experiment to assess the effects of this type of property rights imperfection because of the asset restitution process in the 1990s. In Bulgaria, where co-ownership is very prominent and land is strongly fragmented, the land reform and inheritance legislation allows identifying the impact of co-ownership by taking advantage of a discontinuity created by a minimum plot size law. We find that land in co-ownership is more likely to be used by less efficient farm organizations or to be left abandoned, and that it is related to significant welfare losses. The paper hence provides evidence of sub-optimal land allocation following a privatization that established formal but imperfect property rightsProperty rights; Asset allocation; Land markets;

Rural poverty in transition countries.

Impact; Productivity; Country;

The Impact of Property Rights Imperfections on Resource Allocation and Welfare: Co-ownership of Land in Bulgaria

This study used a unique 2003 survey dataset to analyse the developments in land use and exchange in Bulgaria. The survey analysis yields several results. Land is highly fragmented in Bulgaria which increases the need for an efficient exchange of land between owners and users of land. However, the land sales market is not well developed. In contrast, land rental agreements are very widespread. Land rental is widely used to exchange land between owners and users of the land. The users include a variety of farm types, including cooperatives, farming companies, and individual farms. While land titles are distributed and land plots clearly defined and delineated, an important property rights problem exists under the form of so-called "co-ownership". By law, certain plots are undividable among heirs because the plot size after division would fall under the imposed minimum plot size. Our estimation results show that co-ownership has a major impact on land use and allocation. Land under co-ownership and which is undividable by law, is more likely to be left abandoned or used by large enterprises - the default users of land given the history of land use in Bulgaria - compared to owner-cultivation or renting out to another household. Our analysis shows that solving co-ownership problems would not only stimulate efficient land allocation which in turn affects the household's welfare level. Land that is cultivated by the household or rented to an other household contributes more to its welfare than land that is rented to a cooperative or left abandoned.Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,