• Media type: Report; E-Book
  • Title: (De Facto) Historical Ethnic Borders and Land Tenure in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Contributor: Depetris-Chauvin, Emilio [Author]; Özak, Ömer [Author]
  • Published: Bonn: Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), 2023
  • Language: English
  • Keywords: Q15 ; O43 ; development ; Thiessen Tessellation ; D74 ; O13 ; Africa ; borders ; N57 ; property rights ; O17 ; Q34 ; land ownership ; historical homelands ; P48 ; Voronoi Tessellation
  • Origination:
  • Footnote: Diese Datenquelle enthält auch Bestandsnachweise, die nicht zu einem Volltext führen.
  • Description: We study the role of proximity to historical ethnic borders in determining individual land ownership in Sub-Saharan Africa. Following an instrumental variable strategy, we document that individuals have a lower likelihood of owning land near historical ethnic borders. In particular, the likelihood of owning land decreases by 15 percentage points, i.e., about 1/3 of the mean rate of landownership, for rural migrants who move from 57km (90th percentile) to 2 km (10th percentile) from the border. This result aligns with the view that competition for land is stronger and property rights are weaker close to historical ethnic borders in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Access State: Open Access