Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/54047
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2011/30
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
If we understand well the individualization of land tenure rules under conditions of growing land scarcity and increased market integration, much less is known about the mode of evolution of the farm-cum-family units possessing the land. Inspired by first-hand evidence from West Africa, this paper argues that these units undergo the same process of individualization governed by the same forces as property rights in land. It provides a simple theoretical account of the coexistence of different forms of family when farms are heterogenous in land endowments and technology is stagnant. The paper also offers analytical insights into the sequence following which such forms succeed each other.
Subjects: 
patriarchal family
land division
Africa
JEL: 
D13
O12
O13
Q15
ISBN: 
978-92-9230-395-2
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
523.02 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.