Property rights and investment in urban slums

• 成果类型: Article; Proceedings Paper
• 署名作者: Field, E
• 署名单位: Harvard University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1542-4766
• DOI: 10.1162/1542476054472937
• 发表日期: 2005
• 页码: 279-290
• 关键词: systems

摘要

This paper examines the effect of changes in tenure security on residential investment in urban squatter neighborhoods. To address the endogeneity of property fights, I make use of variation in ownership status induced by a nationwide titling program in Peru. In a difference-in-difference analysis, I compare the change in housing investment before and after the program among participating households to the change in investment among two samples of nonparticipants. My results indicate that strengthening property rights in urban slums has a significant effect on residential investment: the rate of housing renovation rises by more than two-thirds of the baseline level. The bulk of the increase is financed without the use of credit, indicating that changes over time reflect an increase in investment incentives related to lower threat of eviction.