Evolution of land distribution in West Bengal 1967-2004: Role of land reform and demographic changes

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bardhan, Pranab; Luca, Michael; Mookherjee, Dilip; Pino, Francisco
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Berkeley; Harvard University; Boston University; Universite Libre de Bruxelles
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2014.02.001
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 171-190
• 关键词: inequality; Land reform; Household division; Land markets

摘要

This paper studies how land reform and population growth affect land inequality and landlessness, focusing particularly on indirect effects owing to their influence on household divisions and land market transactions. Theoretical predictions of a model of household division and land transactions are successfully tested using household panel data from West Bengal spanning 1967-2004. The tenancy reform lowered inequality through its effects on household divisions and land market transactions, but its effect was quantitatively dominated by inequality-raising effects of population growth. The land distribution program lowered landlessness but this was partly offset by targeting failures and induced increases in immigration. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.