Land Ownership as Insurance and the Market for Land: A Study in Rural Vietnam

Rental markets, gender, and land certificates: Evidence from Vietnam

“…Arguably, households being affected by shocks are more likely to receive some form of support from relatives. Additionally, it might be the case that leasing land for free to relatives might be conceived as a way to ensure a safety net in case of unexpected negative shocks (Promsopha 2015). If that was the case, we should observe a positive coefficient β 3 .…”

“…Certainly, other authors have estimated two-stage empirical models in which the first equation models the decision to farm the land or to transfer it (i.e. become a landlord) and the second stage accounts for the type of rental contract (Dubois 2002) or whether the land transfer was a sale or another type of transfer (Promsopha 2015). This paper does not model the decision to rent out land, and instead focuses on the relationship between rental payments and property rights, conditional on the farmer having decided to become a landlord.…”

“…protection from shocks, transfers, gifts, etc.). Indeed, Promsopha (2015) finds that Vietnamese households tend to not sell their land and instead just transfer it temporarily or as a gift to protect themselves against risk. In Appendix B we explore the possibility that households renting out land for free to their relatives may receive other types of compensation or be better protected against risk.…”

Malawi Economic Monitor, November 2017

“…In this context, land rental markets allow individuals to move out of the agricultural sector without forgoing land ownership. Functional land markets increase the scope for efficiency-enhancing land market transfers (Deininger and Jin, 2006;Promsopha, 2015). In the Malawian context, the reallocation of land and capital to achieve optimal land use efficiency is estimated to have the potential to increase agricultural productivity by a factor of 3.6, contributing to a process of structural economic transformation.…”

Land rights, agricultural productivity, and deforestation in Vietnam

“…Newman et al (2015) find that joint land titling leads to higher land productivity. Promsopha (2015) finds that the land certificates provide important insurance for marginalized households. Of direct importance to deforestation, Saint-Macary et al (2010) find that land title significantly increases the likelihood of practicing agroforestry (which reduces erosion, soil degradation, and landslide risk) in the Northern Highlands.…”