Tenure insecurity, transaction costs in the land lease market and their implications for gendered productivity differentials

ethiopia | Agriculture Behavior ec. Policy design

Tenure insecurity, transaction costs in the land lease market and their implications for gendered productivity differentials

The study sets out to assess the link between land leasing behavior and productivity differentials between male and female headed households.

A non-cooperative game model with double-moral hazard allowed us to show that landlord's tenure insecurity leads to sub-optimal level of effort on tenant's part. The landlord's enforcement ability is also shown to increase the optimal level of effort. The empirical findings support the hypothesis that female heads of households have higher tenant turnover and lower enforcement ability. The results also support the claim that contract length is positively related to productivity. Productivity differentials are significantly explained by difference and contract length among female and male headed households.

EfD Authors

Dr. Mintewab Bezabih Research Associate
Professor Stein Holden Research Associate

Keywords

Centers

ethiopia

Type of publication

Other

Reference

Bezabih, M. and Holden, S. T., 2006, "Tenure insecurity, transaction costs in the land lease market and their implications for gendered productivity differentials", International Association of Agricultural Economists Annual Meeting, Queensland, Australia, 12-18 August 2006.

Environment for Development

Environment for Development