Market Failure and Land Concentration

Levy Economics Institute of Bard College Working Papers No. 575

40 Pages Posted: 31 Aug 2009

See all articles by Fatma Gul Unal

Fatma Gul Unal

Bard College - The Levy Economics Institute

Date Written: August 31, 2009

Abstract

Utilizing a 2002 household-level World Bank Survey for rural Turkey, this paper explores the link between concentration of land ownership and rural factor markets. We construct a unique index that measures market malfunctioning based on the neoclassical model linking land and labor endowments through factor markets to household income. We further test whether land ownership concentration affects market malfunctioning. Our empirical investigation supports the claim that factor markets are structurally limited in reducing existing inequalities as a result of land ownership concentration. Our findings show that in the presence of land ownership inequality, malfunctioning rural factor markets result in increased land concentration, increased income inequality, and inefficient resource allocation. This work fills an important empirical gap within the development literature and establishes a positive association between asset inequality and factor market failure.

Keywords: Market Failure, Land Ownership, Turkey

JEL Classification: Q12, Q13, Q15

Suggested Citation

Unal, Fatma Gul, Market Failure and Land Concentration (August 31, 2009). Levy Economics Institute of Bard College Working Papers No. 575, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1464723 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1464723

Fatma Gul Unal (Contact Author)

Bard College - The Levy Economics Institute ( email )

Blithewood
Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504
United States

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