|
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
The Formation of Beliefs: Evidence from the Allocation of Land Titles to SquattersRafael Di TellaHarvard Business School - Business, Government and the International Economy Unit; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Sebastian GalianiWashington University in Saint Louis - Department of Economics Ernesto SchargrodskyUniversidad Torcuato Di Tella April 22, 2006 Abstract: We study the formation of beliefs in a squatter settlement in the outskirts of Buenos Aires exploiting a natural experiment that induced an allocation of property rights that is exogenous to the characteristics of the squatters. There are significant differences in the beliefs that squatters with and without land titles declare to hold. Lucky squatters who end up with legal titles report beliefs closer to those that favor the workings of a free market. Examples include materialist and individualist beliefs (such as the belief that money is important for happiness or the belief that one can be successful without the support of a large group). The effects appear large. The value of a (generated) index of “market” beliefs is 20% higher for titled squatters than for untitled squatters, in spite of leading otherwise similar lives. Moreover, the effect is sufficiently large so as to make the beliefs of the squatters with legal titles broadly comparable to those of the general Buenos Aires population, in spite of the large differences in the lives they lead.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 29 Keywords: beliefs, property rights, natural experiment, institutions JEL Classification: P16, E62 working papers seriesDate posted: February 14, 2012Suggested CitationContact Information
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
© 2013 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
FAQ
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Copyright
This page was processed by apollo4 in 0.344 seconds
