Property rights, productivity and common property resources: insights from rural Cambodia

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

This paper uses data from the 2003/04 Cambodia Household Socioeconomic Survey to investigate the effects of property rights to land. Plots held with a paper documenting ownership in rural Cambodia are found to have higher productivity and land values than other plots, while property rights have weak effects on access to credit. The paper also investigates whether the introduction of private property rights leads to decreased availability of common property resources. The data offers only weak support for this hypothesis. The general insight is that policies to strengthen land property rights can have important, positive effects on the rural economy, even in an environment of low state capacity.
Original languageEnglish
JournalWorld Development
Volume36
Issue number11
Pages (from-to)2277-2296
Number of pages20
ISSN0305-750X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2008

ID: 9877424