Drivers of global variation in land ownership

Abstract

Land ownership shapes natural resource management and social-ecological resilience, but the factors determining ownership norms in human societies remain unclear. Here we conduct a global empirical test of long-standing theories from ecology, economics and anthropology regarding potential drivers of land ownership and territoriality. Prior theory suggests that resource defensibility, subsistence strategies, population pressure, political complexity and cultural transmission mechanisms may all influence land ownership. We applied multi-model inference procedures based on logistic regression to cultural and environmental data from 102 societies, 71 with some form of land ownership and 31 with no land ownership. We found an increased probability of land ownership in mountainous environments, where patchy resources may be more cost effective to defend via ownership. We also uncovered support for the role of population pressure, with a greater probability of land ownership in societies living at higher population densities. Our results also show more land ownership when neighboring societies also practiced ownership. We found less support for variables associated with subsistence strategies and political complexity.

The Evolution and Ecology of Land Ownership

“…In other words, land ownership is more likely in locations where productivity is predictable. This echoes prior research which suggests that predictability of resources is a factor in determining whether resource defense is economically viable (6,15,65). Private ownership of land may facilitate the defense of natural resources in environments where those resources are reliable enough to justify such actions.…”

“…The expansion of Bantu across the central and southern regions of Africa brought speakers of these languages into a range of environments from forests to savannas and put them in contact with other cultures, including hunter-gatherer and pastoralist populations. To test the relative influence of possible environmental, subsistence, and contact-related predictors on Bantu land ownership norms, we applied a multi-model inference approach based on logistic regression to model the presence of land ownership in Bantu societies (15,52). For this analysis we recoded land ownership as a binary variable (0 = no ownership; 1 = group, kin, or individual ownership).…”

“…In the first, patrilineal kin groups held land; and in the second, individual farmers owned land. Many critiques have emerged regarding strict rectilinear models, including the possibility that societies may progress or regress along the spectrum of different forms of land ownership (no ownership (N), group ownership (G), kin ownership (K), and individual ownership (I)) depending on the cost and benefits of owning land in different forms (12)(13)(14)(15). Although less explored, other trajectories may also be possible in which land ownership change is not restricted to shifts up and down the N-G-K-I continuum, but rather any form of ownership can change into any other form if conditions are suitable (see Fig 2a; (16)).…”

“…Second, research on territoriality by ecologists, anthropologists, and economists have converged on the theory of resource defensibility (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23). This theory argues that as the density and predictability of resources increases so to do the benefits of defending these resources, which leads to a greater probability of individuals or groups owning land (6,15,(24)(25)(26). Third, the use and defense of resources may be linked to subsistence strategies, and certain strategies may work better with specific land ownership norms.…”

Toward a Global Ecology of Fermented Foods

“…In the large literature on gradients in biological diversity, a longstanding and central focus is on the factors that influence the diversity of species along gradients (e.g., latitude or altitude) and the mechanisms that govern the dynamics of that influence (Fischer 1960;Hillebrand 2004). Increasingly, research has used similar approaches to examine geographical patterns in cultural diversity (e.g., Botero et al 2014;Gavin et al 2013Gavin et al , 2018Kavanagh et al 2020;Pacheco Coelho et al 2019). Similar approaches can be used to address related questions with regard to fermented foods.…”