Impact of Land Certification on Land Rental Market Participation in Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia

29 Pages Posted: 11 Oct 2007

See all articles by Stein T. Holden

Stein T. Holden

Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Klaus Deininger

World Bank - Development Economics Group (DEC); World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

Hosaena Hagos Ghebru

Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU); Mekelle University

Date Written: October 1, 2007

Abstract

There is a renewed interest in whether land reforms can contribute to market development in Africa and whether land reforms can be pro-poor. This paper uses unique household panel data from Tigray region in Ethiopia to assess the impact of the 1998 low-cost land registration and certification reform on land rental market participation over a period of eight years after the reform, using random effects probit and tobit panel data models for land leased out and leased in, while correcting for unobservable heterogeneity and endogeneity of having certificate. The analysis revealed that the land reform contributed to increased land rental market participation. Female-headed households became more willing to rent out land and making land available for more efficient producers. Average areas leased out and leased in increased after certification. The land rental market remained characterised with significant and non-convex transaction costs also after the reform as evidenced by significant state dependence, a low response to own holding size and a high share of non-participation in the land market, leaving room for further improvement.

Keywords: Land certification, land rental markets, panel data analysis, unobservable heterogeneity

JEL Classification: Q15, Q24, O13

Suggested Citation

Holden, Stein T. and Deininger, Klaus and Ghebru, Hosaena Hagos, Impact of Land Certification on Land Rental Market Participation in Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia (October 1, 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1019996 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1019996

Stein T. Holden (Contact Author)

Norwegian University of Life Sciences ( email )

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Klaus Deininger

World Bank - Development Economics Group (DEC) ( email )

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Washington, DC 20433
United States

HOME PAGE: http://econ.worldbank.org/staff/kdeininger

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

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Hosaena Hagos Ghebru

Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) ( email )

As
As
Oslo, Norway, 1432
Norway

Mekelle University

P.O.box 431
United States

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