Understanding how crop yields affect deforestation in tropical countries is central to achieving both food security and environmental sustainability. While existing evidence is primarily based on case studies, systematic evidence at broad spatial and temporal scales remains limited. We combine high-resolution (30 × 30 m) satellite data covering the entire tropics annually from 2001 to 2022 to estimate the local effects of crop yield changes on local forest cover (within 10 km). Using a dynamic panel framework, we find modest but statistically significant forest loss following yield gains. Effects are, however, heterogeneous spatially and dynamically. Losses are concentrated in areas with higher initial forest cover and in countries with fewer agri-environmental policies. Importantly, regions with farms below 20 ha as well as those with broad agroforestry adoption do not lose any forest on net in response to crop yield gains.

Global efforts to mitigate climate change include Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), however, evidence on its effectiveness remains mixed. This study evaluates the effectiveness of collective REDD+ agreements signed by Afro-Colombian communities in curbing both deforestation and coca cultivation. Using satellite data at 30 m × 30 m resolution for forest cover ( 900 m² per pixel) and 1 km × 1 km resolution for coca crops (1 km² per pixel), we find that REDD+ projects significantly reduced deforestation by an average of 33 m² per pixel and coca cultivation by 0.33 ha / km2, which is approximately 9,695 hectares of avoided deforestation and 7,098 hectares of contained coca crop expansion annually. These significant impacts, which stand in contrast to findings from previous REDD+ evaluations, likely stem from the way these collective agreements strengthen local monitoring systems, enhance social cohesion, and generate expectation of improved economic conditions.

We investigate the intensive-margin response of forest outcomes to roads using China’s 2000–2010 expressway rollout as the setting. We construct a unique panel from the National Forest Inventory covering over 18,000 geo-located plots with ground-based measures of standing timber volume, which capture tree-level outcomes that satellite-based measures typically miss. Using long differences and standard instrumental variables, we find that moving 10 km closer to an expressway increases timber volume by approximately 2%, with gains concentrated within 1–20 km of new roads. The implied biomass increase equals 217–552 million tons of CO2, comparable to Canada’s annual emissions at the upper bound. Mechanism evidence and a spatial equilibrium model show that improved downstream market access strengthens incentives for investment and specialization in forestry under strict forest land-use controls, highlighting a role for transport infrastructure in promoting sustainable growth.

This paper studies the impact of the Grain for Green Program, one of the largest Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs in the world, on agricultural productivity. We develop a conceptual framework with frictional land markets to analyze how the program affects rural households’ labor and land allocation decisions and the resulting productivity outcomes. Our empirical findings support the model’s predictions. Specifically, the program significantly increased rural households’ efficient labor allocation to off-farm employment, particularly among households with low initial agricultural productivity. The program also corrected land misallocation across households and promoted farm consolidation, especially in villages with more frictional land leasing markets. Through the combined effects of labor sorting, cross-household land reallocation, and land consolidation, the program raised average agricultural productivity in treated villages by approximately 2.6%.

Forests generate important public goods, including carbon storage and habitat for biodiversity, while also contributing to increasing wildfire risks. Private landowners do not fully internalize these benefits and risks, potentially leading to socially inefficient management and undersupply of public goods. Exploiting the historical ‘checkerboard’ land pattern in the American West as an instrument for ownership, we show that public ownership reduces timber harvests and herbicide use in forests, resulting in greater carbon storage, higher biodiversity, and, surprisingly, also lower wildfire risk. These results underscore the role of land ownership in shaping the supply of public goods.

This paper develops a novel empirical framework to quantify the social costs of infrastructure development in India, focusing on displacement from large-scale energy projects—coal, hydro, and solar—over the past 50 years. Combining over 25,000 land acquisition notices with satellite-derived settlement data, I construct the first spatio-temporal estimates of project-affected persons (PAPs). Results show displacement varies sharply across sectors, with coal mining imposing the highest burden, particularly on tribal populations in central and eastern India. Displacement from hydro projects peaked in the 1970s-1990s, while coal-related displacement has surged in recent decades. Solar projects, though less intensive, increasingly threaten common lands. Displacement intensity explains nearly 40% of project cost overruns. This methodology enhances the integration of social costs into infrastructure planning and contributes to debates on equitable energy transitions. Without addressing compensation gaps, legal fragmentation, and grievance failures, energy infrastructure push risks perpetuating displacement and deterring future investments.

The sustainability of global agriculture is fundamentally challenged by a nexus of interconnected crises comprising labor scarcity, environmental degradation, and food security. However, the existing market mechanisms and public policies aimed at addressing these challenges have long been constrained by a fundamental “measurement gap”. On the one hand, as a cornerstone of traditional agricultural economics, farm survey data is of fundamental importance. Yet, this data collection method suffers from several systematic flaws, including recall bias, errors in measuring key variables (such as land area), and infrequent sampling (usually annual). For example, research have found that smallholders often report plot sizes that are up to five times larger than the actual size. Such low-quality data not only distorts our understanding of farm productivity and behavior but also undermines the efficacy of policy interventions.

How do social norms shape the intergenerational transmission of land, particularly regarding gender equity? We combine experimental and administrative data from Senegal with a model of social interactions to study how parental preferences and community norms influence land allocation to sons and daughters. A choice experiment that randomizes land allocations and normative cues reveals that parents are more responsive to community norms when allocating land to daughters—a pattern subsequently borne out in administrative records. Simulations show that this asymmetry generates multiple equilibria in land allocation to daughters but not sons, so even modest shifts in perceived norms can meaningfully reduce gender gaps.

This paper is intended to define the fundamental concepts of the mass appraisal system, based on the ad valorem principle, as well as to analyze the main aspects of its development and the expected outcomes of its implementation. In essence, the work aligns with the modern directions of development adopted by emerging national economies, oriented toward the transition to and implementation of mass appraisal systems for real estate in fiscal purposes. Conventionally, the direct beneficiaries of the concepts and proposals formulated in this paper are countries with emerging economies, currently in the process of establishing, reforming, or developing their own national mass appraisal systems. At the same time, the theoretical and methodological aspects developed herein may serve as a valuable reference for developed economies, by promoting new concepts in the field of mass real estate valuation, adapted to the contemporary economic and institutional context.

This paper examines the use of geographically weighted regression (GWR) for mass appraisal of agricultural land in support of property taxation in Moldova. While prior research has widely applied hedonic and spatial models to residential and commercial properties, there is very limited evidence on agricultural markets and virtually none that evaluates tax equity using industry standards. Using over 15,000 arm’s-length agricultural sales, we estimate a GWR model for the entire country and assess its performance with ratio-study metrics (median ratio, COD, PRD) consistent with international guidance. Results indicate that GWR yields generally acceptable accuracy and uniformity across most regions, but performance deteriorates in and around Chisinauv, suggesting distinct market dynamics and likely omitted variable bias in higher-value, peri-urban areas. We outline ongoing work to improve the model for the capital region, construct confidence intervals for ratio statistics, and reduce vertical inequity as evidenced by the PRD.

This paper reports results from the 2024 China Real Estate Internal Rate of Return (IRR) Survey, commissioned by the China Institute of Real Estate Appraisers and Agents (CIREAA). Using verified transaction data across twenty-five major cities and three property sectors, the survey provides a comparative benchmark of investment performance in China’s property markets. Findings show pronounced regional disparities: first-tier cities maintain moderate IRRs under restrictive policies, emerging inland and southern cities record higher returns linked to industrial diversification and population inflows, while older industrial regions continue to show weak or negative performance. Case studies of Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, Nanning, Lanzhou, and Shenzhen highlight the local economic and regulatory factors driving these outcomes. The study concludes that China’s real estate market operates as differentiated submarkets rather than a uniform national system, and underscores the importance of ongoing IRR monitoring for investment planning, valuation transparency, and policy formulation.

Blantyre City Council (BCC) in Malawi is implementing digital billing and payment systems to enhance its revenue collection methods, improve operational efficiency, and increase transparency for its residents. The new systems allow citizens to pay city rates and fees through mobile platforms or over-the-counter services, significantly minimizing the necessity for physical visits to municipal offices. Currently in the pilot phase, this initiative aims to streamline various services including payment of city rates, issuance of bills, handling inquiries, reporting issues such as refuse collection, formalizing property records, and submitting suggestions all achievable from the convenience of residents’ homes via their mobile phones. The overarching goal of BCC's digital transformation is to boost revenue collection, thereby facilitating better service delivery to the community.

This paper examines whether land rights formalization enhances the effectiveness of reforestation programs. Specifically, we ask whether securing a land certificate (i) improves tree growth on reforested plots and (ii) affects associated socioeconomic outcomes. We study the Programme de Lutte Anti-Érosive (PLAE), a smallholder forest restoration initiative implemented in northern and northwestern Madagascar between 2014 and 2019. Using primary household survey data combined with geospatial data, we employ a quasi-experimental strategy that leverages variation in the presence of overlapping historical colonial and post-colonial land titles, which continue to impede land formalization today. We find that successful land certification significantly increases tree growth, both in self-reported and remotely sensed data. Certification also increases reported tree theft but has no detectable effect on perceived overall tenure security, charcoal-related income, or broader welfare outcomes. These findings highlight both the potential and the limitations of land rights formalization in weak institutional and market environments.

Using a Mundlak-Chamberlain control function approach to address selection bias, this study examines how land rental market participation by tenant households in Nigeria affects crop commercialization. In addition, a seemingly unrelated regression model also was used to estimate impacts on household income sources and composition. Results show younger household heads are more likely to rent-in land, enhancing youth access. Land renting increases marketed output, promoting smallholder commercialization by reallocating land to efficient users. Households with farms over 2 ha boost output by US$46. Welfare outcomes include higher farm and crop incomes but reduced livestock and wage earnings, as resources shift toward crop production. Findings underscore land rental markets' role in agricultural transformation, resource allocation, and income strategies. Policies should facilitate land transfers from unproductive to efficient farmers and offer affordable financing to enhance commercialization and household welfare.

Secure land tenure supports efficient farmland markets, yet how formalization shapes market outcomes remains understudied. This study holds that land certification reduces legal risks and transaction costs, driving farmland rental changes. China’s certification strengthens property rights, making risk‑averse tenants more willing to rent and enabling landlords to charge a risk premium, boosting both rental activity and prices. Using 2008–2017 household panel data and a staggered difference-in-differences approach, we find certification increases rental area by 2.5% and rents by 5.9%. Mediation analysis identifies fewer land disputes as the key channel. Effects are larger for risk-averse households and less developed markets, highlighting uneven benefits and the need for context-specific land policies.

This paper builds on the 2024 report co-chaired by the French Development Agency and the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs examining land-use change in the Global South under rapid urbanization. Urban expansion now extends beyond built-up areas, as rural land is subdivided into small plots that leave agriculture yet remain often undeveloped—so-called “latent urban lands.” These plots form a critical but largely overlooked stage of urban growth. Combining spatial analysis and AI-based plot detection (led by IGN–France International) with ethnographic fieldwork and cadastral and land registry analysis (led by IRD – the French National Research Institute), the study qualifies and quantifies this phenomenon. Findings show that current estimates underestimate residential land conversion. Fallow plots reflect both agricultural decline and latent housing potential. Land is increasingly acquired not only for construction but also to store value and secure finance. Recognizing latent urban land is essential for anticipating future urban trajectories.

This study evaluates Ethiopia’s urban land lease policy, designed to enhance market efficiency within a state-owned land system via competitive auctions. Despite nearly thirty years of implementation, the policy has not yielded inclusive or efficient urban land markets in Addis Ababa, the country’s primary city. Using transaction data from 794 leased plots (2016–2018), spatial configuration analysis, and a hedonic price model, the research identifies plot size, bidder count, land use, spatial connectivity, and government benchmark price as key determinants of lease auction prices. The analysis reveals a dramatic 92-fold disparity between government benchmark and market prices, underscoring severe underpricing and substantial land rent capture by private actors. Qualitative findings from interviews and focus groups further highlight governance challenges, including institutional opacity and rent-seeking. The study concludes that without significant reforms to pricing, land value capture mechanisms, supply management, and governance, Ethiopia’s lease system cannot achieve equitable urban development.

Despite Kenya’s constitutional commitment to accessible and adequate housing (Article 43(1)(b)), the housing sector in Kenya continues to face systemic inefficiencies, investor losses, and consumer exploitation. This research paper synthesizes findings from a correlational descriptive study involving a number of stakeholders and offers actionable recommendations to enhance regulatory implementation, oversight, and service quality among property actors. This is a contemporary issue and the paper will provide recommendations to assist in the formulating policy solutions.

Climate change profoundly impacts land degradation and sustainability across Africa, exacerbating soil erosion, desertification, and deforestation. In West Africa, encroaching desertification threatens arable land, while East Africa faces recurring droughts that undermine food security. Central Africa experiences extensive deforestation and habitat loss, and Southern Africa contends with water scarcity. North Africa faces rising temperatures reducing agricultural productivity. These environmental challenges threaten livelihoods, food security, and economic growth, complicating efforts to implement initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Addressing land degradation and climate impacts requires integrated strategies, including sustainable land management, climate-resilient infrastructure, green technologies, and policy reforms. Effective responses must align with regional specificities, promote environmental restoration, and foster resilience to ensure the sustainability of land systems and economic development across Africa.

Securing land ownership can reduce rural poverty in agrarian societies with unequal land ownership by facilitating land rentals from large landholders to landless and smallholders. Based on an agricultural household model, I demonstrate that land ownership security may increase land-attached investments but dampen land rentals when there are non-security barriers to long-term land rental contracts. I also provide supporting evidence from Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in Latin America. Using spatial variation in credit supply shocks from financial crises, I find that participation in land security improvement programs led large landowners in less-affected districts to significantly increase agricultural credit use, expand land-attached investments, and reduce land rentals.

Agricultural land markets are critical for structural transformation. While operators’ market power may directly or indirectly impede their functioning, it is little studied. This paper uses administrative data for agricultural land transactions from 2021 to 2024 in Ukraine to explore this issue. Tenant fixed effect regressions show that, compared to VCs where it controlled less than 10% of land before a transaction, the same tenant paid 4% or 7.5% ($3.66 or $6.86 per ha and year) less rent and obtained longer lease terms in village councils where it already controlled 10-33 % or more than 33 % of land. A similar pattern emerges in recently opened land sales markets. Non-competitive land market behavior is estimated to impose annual losses of US$ 40 million on landowners with policies to address it being ineffective or even exacerbating such losses.

We explore how resource rights motivate voluntary self-restrictions that increase conservation. While protected-area (PA) costs lead private actors to contest protection, at times they embrace restrictions. Why? As private groups compete for resources, PAs are a welcome 'enemy of my enemy’ when limiting competitors (de jure rights violaters). Rights improvements via PAs can raise welfare even when requiring conservation − and address drivers of PA ‘fortress failures’ (plus PES ‘contracting calamities’, since conditional rights may offer more than typical PES). Incentive compatibility is demonstrated in 24 cases of volunteering away de jure rights for de facto rights that require conservation.

Restrictive land institutions such as size and rent ceilings, while popular for their distributional effects, can also distort land allocation and reduce productivity. I study the impact of the abolition of agricultural land rent controls and the transition to a free land rental market in Egypt on agricultural households’ welfare. I use a difference-in-differences design exploiting the variation in districts’ exposure to the law, measured by the share of rented land prior to its passage. I find that the law increased agricultural households expenditure in higher exposure districts and enhanced the conditions of the poorest decile in the population. The consolidation of very small plots to small plots along with a growing share of land owned by firms suggests a shift towards commercial agriculture among small landholders. There was no evidence of an increase of large agricultural plots or an increase of inequality at the district level.

Land restoration activities (LRA) on private smallholder farms may reduce land and labor productivity contemporaneously, even though both may increase over time. This temporal tradeoff could reduce smallholder well-being contemporaneously, requiring short-term incentives to compensate for these negative effects. We take the case of Ethiopia, which has the largest land restoration program in the world, to examine the impacts of LRA. We use three panels of the LSMS-ISA data between 2011 and 2016, and remotely sensed data between 2011 and 2018. We find that, contemporaneously, LRA reduces land productivity and labor productivity, but improves household consumption expenditure due to LRA-implementing households working in and receiving transfers from social welfare programs. LRA increases land productivity around five years after implementation. As the adoption of LRA can contemporaneously reduce land and labor productivity, providing short-term social protection through food/cash-for-work programs can encourage the adoption of LRA by reducing rural distress.

Carbon markets are expanding into indigenous lands, but the allocation of carbon rights remains unresolved. In the Philippines, the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act recognizes ancestral domains as private community property, yet it is unclear whether carbon value follows that ownership or is shaped by project design. This paper examines how carbon governance is structured in practice and whether it aligns ownership, control, and incentives. Combining doctrinal legal analysis with institutional economics, it analyzes three projects within ancestral domains. The findings show a recurring pattern: despite formal land ownership, control over carbon assets is often exercised through developer-led contractual and registry systems. This separation affects benefit distribution, accountability, and long-term stewardship. Drawing on property rights theory, the paper argues that carbon benefits should presumptively follow ownership and proposes an ownership-based design in which Indigenous communities are default rights holders, and developers operate under delegated authority, strengthening incentives and improving governance outcomes.

Attracting private-sector investment in agriculture is crucial for scaling soil health and climate action, and sustainably transforming food systems. This study assesses how different funding models shape the economic viability and inclusiveness of carbon farming projects. Using evidence from twelve Kenyan projects registered under the voluntary carbon market, four funding models were identified: (1) donor-financed, (2) investor-financed with forward purchase agreements, (3) private-sector led with blended finance, and (4) buyer-led. The donor-financed model enables piloting but risks donor dependence and high costs. Investor financing offers stable funding yet limits future gains. Private-sector models allow marketing flexibility but face financial risks, while buyer-led models centralize power and may weaken equitable benefit-sharing. Four cross-cutting insights arise: investment terms shape risk–reward distribution; early scaling and profit reinvestment support economic viability; fair benefit-sharing builds on transparency in cost accounting; and inclusive governance requires empowerment of local actors and reduced reliance on international intermediaries.

This paper examines the impact of land rights on Land use or investments in Uganda. I used a sample of 3548 households from the 2019/2020 Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS). Analytically I employed maximum likelihood probit techniques. land rights is expressed in three forms: land tenure, selling rights, and ownership of land title certificate.

The study found that; mailo tenure, selling rights, and title ownership encourage coffee cultivation. Freehold and mailo tenure system support the growing of trees for timber. All the three types of land rights encourage investing in permanent houses. Following the above findings, we recommend the need for government to facilitate households acquire title ownership to enhance land investments.

Land recordal systems (often referred to as deeds registration or recording systems) and land registration systems are two primary frameworks for documenting property ownership and rights in land. Both aim to provide evidence of title, facilitate transactions, and prevent fraud or disputes, but they differ fundamentally in their approach, legal protections, and operational mechanics: recordal systems focus on archiving documents, while registration systems certify ownership itself. The core contrast lies in what is recorded and the level of state guarantee provided. These differences stem from historical evolution, with recordal systems emerging from English common law’s emphasis on private deeds, while registration systems, pioneered by Robert Torrens in 1858 in South Australia, prioritize state-verified certainty. This research will adopt a comparative methodology, drawing on reliable secondary sources.

The Constitution of Kenya provides that “Parliament shall revise, consolidate and rationalize all existing land laws”. It is on the basis of this that Land Registration Act (LRA) was enacted to provide harmony, especially in the sector of land registration.The Kenya National Land Policy (Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2009) had also proposed such measures. The LRA provides that all land in Kenya will be registered and titled under one registration system. This provision, as opposed to other provisions for conversion, is mandatory. It also provides that land registration can be automated an aspect not provided for in the repealed laws. This paper examines how effective and efficient LRA is in bringing about modernization in conveyancing in Kenya.

Uganda’s transition to a Digital Land Economy is one of its most ambitious land administration reforms, marked by the implementation of the Land Information System (LIS) and the Land Valuation Information Management System (LAVMIS). Despite these advancements and their integration with national identification, revenue, financial, and judicial systems, 70% of land remains unregistered, hindering tenure security, increasing transaction costs, and limiting economic benefits. This study examines how digital land systems affect socio-economic outcomes, including business costs, land investments, collateral accessibility, real estate development, employment, government revenues, and financial inclusion. Using institutional economics, transaction cost theory, and digital transformation frameworks, the research identifies mixed results, such as reduced processing times but increased transaction costs and persistent legal and institutional barriers. The study provides evidence-based recommendations to enhance institutional coordination, promote inclusive access, and align digital reforms with broader economic strategies, offering actionable insights for sustainable and inclusive socio-economic growth

The global real estate sector is undergoing a fundamental shift as Web3 technology introduces unprecedented efficiency and openness to immovable property market. This paper presents a model end-to-end business process for tokenization of immovable property in Georgia, connecting state-oriented legal certainty and decentralized financial innovation. By integrating the National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) with a dedicated Web3 platform, the proposed framework establishes an efficient tokenization mechanism for physical assets. Study outlines a practical operational model that transforms the property market into a high-liquidity, globally accessible ecosystem. While tailored to Georgia, the framework is designed for international export, providing model legislative solutions, positioning Georgia as one of pioneers in the Web3-driven tokenized economy.

This paper examines how labor migration shapes land rental market dynamics in rural Nepal using nationally representative NLSS-IV data on 5,780 agricultural landowners. Despite substantial remittance inflows, most households remain inactive in land markets. Migration increases lease-in participation, particularly among smallholders, but has no effect on lease-out behavior, producing a “partial land market freeze.” Migrant households exhibit stronger agricultural engagement through higher cropping intensity, livestock turnover, and land acquisition borrowing, indicating unmet demand for land. Meanwhile, significant land remains idle alongside land-constrained tenant farmers. The findings highlight institutional supply-side barriers rather than financial constraints as the key impediment to efficient land reallocation.

This project sought to re-engineer Zimbabwe’s Cadastral Survey Examination System through strategic digitalization. It focused on developing a prototype web-based platform to replace the slow, paper-based process currently hindered by inefficiencies, inaccuracies, and limited integration with modern technologies. Institutional bureaucracy and rigid legal frameworks further delay evaluation of cadastral records, making digital transformation essential. The prototype introduces a centralized system that automates key procedures such as survey lodgement, examination, status tracking, and secure data management. Integrated GIS tools enable real-time spatial visualization and analysis, while automation minimizes errors and significantly improves processing timelines. Designed collaboratively with land surveyors and the Department of the Surveyor General, the system aligns with user needs and legal requirements. Features such as real-time dashboards, automated notifications, digital signatures, and analytical tools including boundary encroachment detection enhance accuracy, transparency, and accountability. This project demonstrates how digital innovation can modernize land governance and support sustainable development.

The paper will highlight advancements in geomatics education in Ethiopia through two academic partnership projects, aimed at fostering sustainable development and addressing the country’s critical shortage of skilled land administration professionals. Funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation, these initiatives have established academic programs at Debre Markos University, including a Bachelor’s degree in "Land Administration and Surveying" and a Master’s curriculum in "Geomatics," to equip students with technical and leadership skills. The projects emphasize gender inclusivity, promoting female participation in higher education and professional training. Despite challenges such as armed conflict in the Amhara region, innovative solutions like online lectures ensured project continuity. Customized training programs, feasibility studies on UAVs potential for land-related data acquisition, and gender equality in land rights further support Ethiopia’s socio-economic progress. The outcomes provide a replicable model for other nations and contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Rapid urbanisation presents a massive challenge to functioning economies and societies in the Global South. The provision of basic living standards is compromised and the issues should be front and centre of sustainable development. Building attractive local communities would go some way to countering the pull and push factors towards the cities. One means of achieving some positive results in this regard is by adding surveying into the pool of resources and strengthening the offering through the consideration and application of surveying practice. Examples are given of how through the widening and deepening the Surveyor’s input into the development initiatives it can be possible to combat the effects of rapid urbanisation. Community based approaches such as the Rapid Planning Toolkit also yields results. Further strategic use such as available technologies and green leases demonstrate other approaches.

Land is becoming more tenuous than ever as the population is growing rapidly. Both Malawi and Tanzania are countries that are experiencing rapid urbanization, with pressure on land and infrastructure in urban and peri-urban areas including border areas. The land parcels in the cross-border areas are rendering it difficult to be properly adjudicated and demarcated as land falls into two different land tenure systems and there is no legal framework on how such land should be registered to ensure tenure security. The study used both desk research and field research to investigate the best practices of the demarcation and adjudication of land parcel boundaries in border areas. The study reveals that the law is silent on registration of such land. The study also unveiled that others do not know where their land parcel is situated. The study developed a framework that can be used to register such land parcels.

As the concept of soil health gains prominence, it becomes increasingly important to examine how states design and implement soil health policies. We explore soil health governance through an analysis of India’s Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme. The SHC scheme provides every farmer in the country with bi-annual soil test reports, based on the assumption that improved information will encourage more judicious use of fertilizers and pesticides. The assumption reflects a broader emphasis within the agricultural sciences on the importance of quantifying soil health. As an illustrative case, India’s grand SHC scheme shows that quantification alone is insufficient and could even dampen momentum for transformative policy reforms. Effective and durable change lies in pairing efforts to quantify soil health with (a) plural epistemic approaches, (b) participatory knowledge dissemination, and (c) structural reforms.

The present study used a Randomized Controlled Trial conducted with smallholder farmers in southern Malawi to test if access to an area-yield based crop insurance program that pays cash equivalent 7-11% of average baseline income to drought and flood-affected farmers in a geographic region reduces the need for them to rent out their land the subsequent year as a coping strategy to meet consumption needs. In doing so, we link the agricultural insurance literature with the land market literature in sub-Saharan Africa. We found that the insurance payouts did not cause beneficiaries to reduce the amount of land that insurance beneficiaries rented out, the income they earned from renting out land, or the price they received for renting out land. This provides evidence that even relatively large payouts after a drought were not high enough to significantly reduce stress-renting of land in this context.

Nitrogen fertilizer is essential for boosting yields and food production, but subsidies often encourage inefficient use. Scientific evidence shows nitrogen pollution has exceeded safe planetary boundaries, yet the global economic costs of subsidized fertilizer remain poorly understood. I combine global data on subsidy regimes with satellite-derived crop productivity, nitrogen application, water quality, and spatial administrative datasets to estimate the long-run costs of fertilizer use and the role of subsidies. In regions with large input subsidies, nitrogen overapplication reduces productivity returns and increases runoff into waterways, with lasting consequences for human health and labor productivity. Over half of global agricultural output occurs in high-subsidy, high-use areas where the marginal benefit of additional nitrogen is negative. Globally, up to 17% of water nitrogen pollution is linked to inefficient input subsidies, contributing to harmful algal blooms. By contrast, decoupled subsidies not tied to production reduce these spillovers, pointing to a path for reform.

Price-based agricultural support remains central to farm income stabilisation and food security in developing countries, but its effectiveness is constrained by limited state capacity and high logistics costs. While many countries have shifted towards price deficiency payments (PDP), India’s Minimum Support Price (MSP) system continues to rely on physical procurement of a few staple crops. Using crop-wise production, MSP, and wholesale price data for 2024–25, this paper evaluates three policy scenarios: partial procurement, a hybrid MSP–PDP system, and a universal PDP regime. Results show that partial procurement (40% for paddy and wheat; 20% for other crops) generates gross payouts of ₹3.70 lakh crore (1.12% of GDP), but a modest net fiscal burden (0.01–0.07% of GDP). Hybrid systems deliver comparable income support with lower logistics costs, while universal PDP slightly increases fiscal outlays but eliminates stockholding inefficiencies. Hybrid approaches emerge as a pragmatic reform pathway.

Land, labor, and economic development

Land, labor and economic development from a Latin American perspective

An Eastern European view on land, labor, and economic development

An African perspective on how land policies shaped job creation and city growth

How land and labor policies affected economic growth China and East Asia

Inequality among rural households in developing countries is closely tied to the concentration of land ownership, alongside limited access to insurance and credit. We study the equity and efficiency implications of land rights by combining experimental evidence with a unified macroeconomic framework. Using data from a World Bank land titling intervention in the Philippines, we provide causal evidence that formalizing property rights increases land market activity, compresses consumption inequality, and strengthens the insurance role of land, particularly for land-poor households. We develop a model of structural change, featuring incomplete markets, production heterogeneity, and selection across sectors to quantify the aggregate, distributional, and welfare consequences of the land titling reform and other policies. Land operates as an insurance device against income shocks. Land titling policies increase overall welfare and reduce inequality along with improving productivity. Redistributive land reforms, however, may give rise to an efficiency-equity tradeoff when land market frictions persist.

Many countries in the Americas restrict Indigenous land transactions to preserve Indigenous ownership, but these policies may inhibit economic growth. This paper evaluates Chile’s 1993 Indigenous Law, which limits transfers, leases, and mortgages in Mapuche territories, restricting transactions to Mapuche buyers. Using property records and transaction data, we find that the law has slowed Mapuche territorial loss but imposed economic costs, reflected in lower capitalization of urban growth into land values. Its effectiveness has declined over time, coinciding with a reduction in properties registered in the Public Registry of Indigenous Territories (PRIT), a key enforcement tool. Analysis of property sales following owner deaths shows that PRIT-listed properties experience smaller reductions in Indigenous ownership, with no evidence of lower sales rates. We also find no meaningful effects of PRIT on land use or productivity. These results suggest that costs arise from de jure restrictions, while enforcement delivers protection without additional costs.

Redistributive land reforms have affected more than a billion people in more than a third of the world's countries in the last century. However, macro-level research on these reforms is largely lacking. Drawing on a newly developed dataset documenting instances of redistributive land reforms, the amount of agricultural land redistributed, and the property rights granted to recipients, we examine the relationship between redistributive land reforms and agricultural productivity between 1900 and 2010. We show that reform onset is costly for agricultural productivity across all property rights regimes, but that the productivity response to additional redistribution depends sharply on the rights granted. Under full rights, further redistribution raises productivity; under incomplete rights, it compounds losses.

How do boundaries affect property rights and subsequent development outcomes? We leverage the partial destruction of local maps in a 1711 fire to measure the effects of the loss of state-sanctioned property boundaries for local economic development in colonial Ireland. Our research design compares outcomes between localities which featured on the same physical map but varied in their fire damage which, we establish, appear indistinguishable on predetermined covariates. Using a range of newly digitized data sources, we find substantively lower land and building valuations, reduced local investment, and less secure tenure in localities exposed to map fire damage. These effects are conditioned by the prior ownership of land by politically dominant Protestants compared to the marginalized Catholic majority, underscoring variation in the relevance of state-issued information for de jure property rights in stratified contexts.

We explore the effect of historical ethnic borders on contemporary conflict in Africa. We document that the intensive and extensive margins of contemporary conflict are higher close to historical ethnic borders. Exploiting variations across artificial regions within an ethnicity's historical homeland and a theory-based instrumental variable approach, we find that regions crossed by historical ethnic borders have 27 percentage points higher probability of conflict and 7.9 percentage points higher probability of being the initial location of a conflict. We uncover several key underlying mechanisms: competition for agricultural land, population pressure, cultural similarity, and weak property rights.

We examine the relationship between agricultural land potential and conflict across Sub-Saharan Africa, where such conflicts are widespread. To address endogeneity, we construct a plausibly exogenous, crop-specific indicator of agricultural land potential based on a weather-driven suitability model. The indicator leverages variation in weather and soil conditions to capture changes in crop-growing potential. Using a 0.1° grid-cell dataset covering the period 1997–2023 and conflict data from ACLED, we focus on overall crop and climate suitability for 50 crops grown across Africa. We find that long-term increases in agricultural land potential are associated with increases in conflict within countries. By using crop-specific, weather-based suitability measures rather than realized production, we provide new evidence on the climate–agriculture–conflict nexus.

We examine how armed groups and state authorities shape forest governance in a post-conflict setting. Using an original household survey (N = 2,024) and satellite data from the Colombian Amazon, we find that armed groups impose more rules, monitoring, and sanctions than other actors. However, forest loss is higher in areas under their control, indicating that rule proliferation does not improve conservation outcomes. In contrast, subnational governments actively combat deforestation, and their presence is associated with lower forest loss. These effects are strongest among households engaged in illegal activities, particularly coca cultivation and cattle ranching. The findings reveal a central paradox of post-conflict environmental governance: armed groups generate extensive regulatory systems that fail to curb deforestation. Overall, the results clarify the environmental role of armed groups in contexts with strong incentives for illegal production and ongoing competition between state and non-state authorities.

This paper examines how formalizing women’s land rights improves adoption of climate‑smart agricultural practices and strengthens household resilience in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Drawing on mixed‑methods research from a three‑year program implemented by Nature Seed Care Agri‑Organization, I combine household surveys (n=1,200), georeferenced plot data, and 40 qualitative interviews with women farmers, local leaders, and extension agents. Results show that women with legally recognized land use or tenure arrangements are 35% more likely to adopt soil conservation, agroforestry, and diversified cropping systems, and exhibit higher seasonal food security scores. Qualitative evidence highlights barriers to title registration, including administrative costs, customary norms, and limited access to legal services, and identifies community‑led mediation and mobile registration outreach as effective solutions. The paper discusses policy implications for scaling gender‑responsive land formalization, integrating tenure security into climate finance, and designing extension services that accelerate equitable, climate‑resilient agricultural uptake.

This paper builds upon findings from in-depth study of the land laws of Africa’s 55 states. The subject analysed is the legal status of communal lands in the vast community lands sector. While property rights reforms since 1990 have greatly improved individual and family security over houses and farms, their traditionally owned commons have been yet further de-secured. This paper explores the connections between this vulnerability, often the only significant asset of communities, the reluctance of many governments to release these to their rightful owners, the disturbing extent of armed violence and war in so many states. Unjust property norms made worse by forced flight is reaching dangerous levels for fair governance, peace, and justice. More genuinely inclusive economic growth paths are essential to bring the continent back from the brink.

The 'Additions to Reserve process' (ATR) transfers Crown or Fee Simple property to the reserve land status communities in Canada. The past and current processes have resulted in a fifty percent increase in First Nations reserve land title transfers since 1972. These significant new land title transfers rely on modern geomatics land data, which mainly uses land parcel mapping, cadastral land surveying, and geographic information systems (GIS) as the legal parcel evidence for an ATR submission. The historical ATR program transfer metrics and study findings show that ATR geomatics data is key to providing Canada's land transfer approval and enabling new economic transactions for First Nation reserves regarding an undervalued economic policy. Today, the current ATR policy redesign presents opportunities and issues to resolve, with a potential Two-Eyed Seeing (TES) data protocol for a future UNDRIP-based reserve land economic development program in Canada, in new geomatics land challenges and issues.

How are Indigenous communal property rights (ICPR) enforced? In countries with flexible property rights regimes, land tenure is subject to economic rents and the political benefits it provides to the state, producing selective enforcement against groups whose land use is deemed suboptimal and whose population is too small to generate electoral returns. When this enforcement gap is large, states will not enforce ICPR. This is the case for the Garifuna people of Honduras, where the state's non-enforcement of ICPR has led government actors to overlook and at times encourage territorial encroachment. To overcome these domestic enforcement failures, the Garifuna use the OFRANEH to monitor shortcomings, then leverage the OAS Inter-American Court of Human Rights to internationalize enforcement. I present an analysis of three Garifuna communities and their cases before the Court to highlight how indigenous communities use international institutions to secure rights their own states purposefully fail to enforce.

Strengthening land rights can improve a range of development outcomes, leading many African governments to formalize customary land rights. However, women are often excluded from newly formalized rights that privilege primary rights holders. We document the impacts of Burkina Faso’s Rural Land Governance (RLG) project on women’s rights to land, using the 50 treatment and matched control communes in the pilot phase of the program. Using surveys conducted at endline, we find that the RLG program statistically significantly reduced women’s perceived rights to land in treated communes. Both men and women are less likely to report women can access land, make land-related decisions, inherit land, or be added to land documents. This social renegotiation of women’s rights also spills over into other domains of women’s empowerment. In formalizing rights, the program crystallized men’s primary claims and opened contestation over women’s rights, demonstrating the unintended gendered consequences of land formalization.

This work presents how the adoption of the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) can contribute to advancing Brazil’s Rural Cadastre. A prototype was developed to explore practical applications of the model, focusing on improving data organization, consistency, and interoperability among institutions. The initiative also examined how standardized information structures can facilitate integration with geospatial databases and support more efficient cadastral processes. The results demonstrate that LADM provides a solid conceptual basis to harmonize records, support territorial management, and enhance transparency. The prototype reveals potential benefits for updating procedures, improving data quality, and enabling new services that rely on reliable, well-structured cadastral information.

This research work is concerned with a) increasing our knowledge and understanding of the benefits, and b) developing supporting evidence and arguments for achieving the sustainable financing of land administration. Previous work (WB conference 2024,2025, ALPC 2025) has identified financing of land administration investments and operations as a core constraint in the initial establishment and sustainable operation of land administration systems, especially in developing countries. The work also identified the lack of a conceptual framework that explicitly includes the financial aspects of land governance reform, and the need to consider both supply and demand of land administration services and their role in developing financially sustainable solutions and promoting well-functioning land markets. The work includes a review of literature and current status, problem definition, development of conceptual framework, experience mapping and identification of benefits and arguments to support the reform process, with a final policy brief output for policy makers

Rwanda has established a globally recognized, efficient Land Administration System (LAS), marking a victory in the “battle for efficiency” (Ali, Deininger, & Goldstein, 2014). This paper interrogates whether this technocratic success translates into equitable, inclusive growth. Our analysis, synthesised with comparative evidence, identifies three remediable barriers: prohibitive transaction costs that exclude the poor, as seen in Tanzania where a $13 fee was the primary constraint for 81% of non-payers (Tanzania Demand Study, 2023); a deepening digital divide; and legal awareness gaps that leave women economically invisible. Evidence from Nigeria shows that technological inclusion does not automatically yield equitable benefits (Daudu, 2023). We argue for a pivot to “inclusive efficiency,” proposing a policy framework of pro-poor financial mechanisms, legal empowerment, digital inclusion, and gender-intelligent design to ensure land reform becomes a true catalyst for resilient and shared prosperity.

Land governance in sub-Saharan Africa faces persistent challenges, including limited transparency, fragmented data, and land-use conflicts. This study examines how digital technologies and youth engagement can enhance the inclusivity and effectiveness of land governance systems. Using a mixed-methods approach combining a systematic literature review (35 studies following ROSES criteria) and secondary data analysis, the research highlights key regional trends. Findings show uneven progress in cadastral digitization, with countries such as South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, and Benin performing relatively well, while others lag behind. Community land registration remains a major weakness across all cases. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) emerge as the most widely used tools, alongside participatory mapping, drones, and digital platforms. These technologies improve data accuracy, transparency, and youth participation. However, most studies remain exploratory, limiting evidence on real impacts. This research contributes empirical insights into how digital tools can strengthen inclusive land governance in Africa.

Food insecurity is a growing concern among older adults in India, particularly in rural and agrarian settings where land remains a key household asset. This study investigates the association between land ownership and food insecurity using data from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) 2017–18, complemented by qualitative interviews from Tamil Nadu. The analysis includes 65,568 adults aged 45 years and above. Food insecurity was assessed using a three-item composite measure, and multivariate logistic regression was employed. Results show that landlessness substantially increases the likelihood of food insecurity, with greater vulnerability among those owning non-cultivable or marginal landholdings. Women, poor health, depression, widowhood, living alone, and belonging to socially disadvantaged groups significantly increased vulnerability. Regional disparities were also evident. The findings underscore the importance of secure land rights and strengthened social protection to enhance food security among older adults.

In Ethiopia, land governance is structured by constitutional state ownership of all rural and urban land, with use rights reserved for individuals. The intention was to provide equity to rural populations. This paper examines the land governance framework in Ethiopia and its impact on the livelihood and food security of rural families using both doctrinal analysis and a synthesis of empirical research. The paper identifies a significant gap between the protections provided by the formal legal regime and the outcomes experienced by rural families. In particular, the inadequate compensation, limited procedural protections, and lack of livelihood restitution following expropriation negatively affect agricultural productivity and household food security. In addition, by comparing the Ethiopian experience with South Africa, Brazil, and India, this paper calls for legal and policy reforms that would increase tenure security and connect land governance to sustainable and equitable rural livelihoods.

Groundwater depletion poses a serious challenge across many countries, and its causes extend well beyond climate-related pressures. This study examines how institutional structures established during the colonial era continue to impact present-day groundwater outcomes. Using a panel dataset of 64 countries from 2003 to 2019, we examine how institutional quality—measured through the Property Rights Index and the Democracy Index—impacts groundwater levels. To address potential endogeneity, we apply a two-stage least squares (2SLS) strategy, using colonial legacy variables as historical instruments. The findings indicate a nonlinear relationship: improvements in property rights and democratic accountability lead to better groundwater outcomes, but their marginal effects decline at higher institutional levels. Overall, the results show that groundwater depletion is not just an environmental or climatic challenge but also an institutional one, rooted in historical governance structures.

This study used the Malawi Integrated Household Panel Survey balanced dataset for 2016 to 2019 and sampled 1,147 rural maize farmers to determine agricultural land rent factors and its effect on food security. Renting-in land directly increased food consumption score by 37.9% in the same location and 26.2% in neighboring locations. Notably, self-owned land reduced Food Consumption score by -17.05% in the same location and -10.87% in neighboring locations. Region spatial variations indicated that southern region had the lowest Food Consumption Score, followed by Central region, then Northern region. Renting-in land was positively influenced by rural household head’s education years, landholding size, marital status, hired labour and rainfall, while negatively influencing renting-out land and self-owning land. The findings propose for regional specific interventions that enhance land-labour transactions and food shocks, and education access.

Cette contribution vise à introduire la clause de patrimonialité dans les mécanismes du Land Pooling et du Land Readjustment pour une meilleure efficacité de la composante foncière .Elle présente l'incapacité légale des juridictions à connaître des litiges entre domaine privé de l’État et terres ancestrales en milieu urbain et péri-urbain à Yaoundé et Douala soulève le double problème de la non-résilience et de la non-inclusivité des grandes villes camerounaises.Pour juguler ce problème,le mécanisme Land Pooling (LP) et Land Readjustment (LR) encouragé par la Banque mondiale, présente un réel intérêt en raison de sa flexibilité opérationnelle. Pour la démarche , nous aurons recours à la science anthropologique à travers les techniques d’observation et les récits de vie ; et ensuite nous ferons appel au réalisme praxéologique du droit à travers le raisonnement pratique ordinaire dévolu à l’ethnométhodologie.

Family farming is a major source of income for rural communities in Senegal, yet land insecurity and climate variability make it difficult for farmers to implement sustainable resilience. Limited land tenure security weakens their ability to prepare for or respond to future shocks. This study investigates how land security shapes the resilience and adaptation strategies of family farms. This study identifies the most relevant strategies for reducing climate risks, examines the factors that influence their adoption using a multivariate Probit model, and evaluates the impact of these strategies on farm productivity. The analysis uses data from the 2021 Annual Agricultural Survey conducted on 6,000 households. Results show widespread use of crop diversification, climate-resilient seeds and improved irrigation. However, socio-demographic factors, such as education and gender strongly affect results. Land tenure security encourages long-term investments, whereas insecurity creates conflict and limits adaptation. These findings call for land reform and gender-responsive policies.