Land is a key component of the wealth of any nation. Throughout history, virtually all civilizations have spent considerable time defining land rights and establishing institutions to administer them. Well-defined, secure, and transferable rights to land are crucial to development efforts.
In developing countries, most land is used for agricultural production, a mainstay of economic sustenance. The possession of land rights also typically ensures a baseline of shelter and food supply and allows people to turn latent assets into live capital through entrepreneurial activity. Once secure in their land rights, rural households invest to increase productivity. Moreover, the use of land as a primary investment vehicle allows households to accumulate and transfer wealth between generations. The ability to use land rights as collateral for credit helps create a stronger investment climate and land rights are thus, at the level of the economy, a pre-condition for the emergence and operation of financial markets.
Property rights to land are one of the cornerstones for the functioning of modern economies. This book looks first at the historical, conceptual, and legal contexts of property rights to land. It then considers aspects of land transactions, including the key factors affecting the functioning of rural land markets. Finally, it explores the scope and role of governments and land policy formation and discusses ways in which developing countries can establish land policy frameworks that maximize social benefit. | | Researchers have often neglected the profound impact of land policies on countries’ long-term path of social and economic development. This report draws on an impressive body of research to emphasize this dimension and illustrate implications for policy. It deserves a wide readership among academics and policymakers.Researchers have often neglected the profound impact of land policies on countries’ long-term path of social and economic development. This report draws on an impressive body of research to emphasize this dimension and illustrate implications for policy. It deserves a wide readership among academics and policymakers. —Yujiro Hayami, Chairman, FASID Graduate Faculty, and Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan
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Historical experience in many countries demonstrates that without a clear land policy, it will be difficult or impossible to reduce deep-rooted structural poverty and inequality. Building on a wide array of research and experience, this report lays out the main dimensions of the issue and illustrates how they can help to develop an approach to land policy that fits into more general strategies for poverty reduction. —Alain deJanvry, Professor, University of California, Berkeley, USA |
By documenting the long-neglected importance of land tenure for good governance and private sector development, especially in Africa, this report broadens the discussion, highlighting the farreaching implications of land policy for economic development. —Kasim Kasanga, Minister of Lands, Government of Ghana |
This report represents a major and welcome shift in World Bank thinking on land policy by offering an increased openness and flexibility in thinking, a readiness to admit to past mistakes, and an avoidance of dogmatism. The critical test will be to ensure that the report’s relatively more enlightened approach and principles will be turned into better Bank practice at the country level. This will require genuine commitment from senior management in the Bank and continued pressure from civil society advocates who defend the land rights of the poor. —Robin Palmer, Land Policy Adviser, Oxfam, Great Britain |
This policy research report is a significant contribution to the knowledge and experience that can guide policies and programs for poverty-reducing growth. It has emerged from a participatory process that serves as an example to others in its efforts to consider the wide range of views and opinions that can inform effective land policy development. The report will be a critical resource for governments, civil society, and international organizations that must seize this moment when land has reappeared on the development agenda. —Bruce H. Moore, Director, International Land Coalition, Rome, Italy |
This immensely rich compilation of experience as well as theory on land policy and
administration highlights the complexity of the issues with which development practitioners must deal. It provides recommendations to improve policy with regard to land ownership and use, which is essential to fostering dynamic economic growth. —Emmy Simmons, Assistant Administrator, USAID |
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