Options
Colla-De-Robertis, Esteban
Land tenure security and agrarian investments in the Peruvian Highlands
2021
,
Navarro-Castañeda, Sandro
,
Arranz, José M.
,
Burguillo, Mercedes
,
Colla-De-Robertis, Esteban
The abundant empirical studies on the relationship between land tenure security and investment remain inconclusive. This work sheds light on this issue, estimating a simultaneous equation model of 9 different types of land investments and land tenure security using data from the Peruvian agrarian census. This study analyzed the case of the Peruvian highlands, which could be a suitable case study for discussing the importance of land tenure security and land tilting programs on rural development in developing countries due to its agrarian-based economic characteristics and for having an official land-titling program (the PETT). We found that tenure security was significantly and positively related to five land investments among the nine analyzed; however, the size of these effects is small, so its importance is lower than what it is a priori expected on institutional grounds. The effects were also negative for two investments for which customs seemed to be a good way of land management. Land-titling programs in developing countries seem to be a necessary but not sufficient policy approach to promote rural development. Our results indicate that where customs are functioning well, land-titling programs can be complement to but not a substitute for these customary institutions. The impacts of other socio-economic variables suggest that public programs promoting education and training as well as gender equality are important for the promotion of rural development.