Evaluating the Impact of Land Tenure and Titling on Access to Credit in Uganda

Evaluating the Impact of Land Tenure and Titling on Access to Credit in Uganda
Author: Carly K. Petracco, John Pender
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2009
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

"The theorized impact of land tenure and titling on access to credit has produced mixed results in the empirical literature. Land tenure and titling is hypothesized to increase access to credit because of the enhanced land security provided and the newfound ability to use land as collateral. Using land as collateral and obtaining access to credit are paramount concerns in Uganda and in all of Africa, as greater emphasis is placed on the need to modernize the agricultural system. This paper uses a new approach in evaluating whether land tenure and titling have an impact on access to credit for rural households in Uganda. The new approach includes comparisons across four categories: (1) households who have customary land with versus without a customary certificate, (2) households who have freehold land with versus without a title, (3) households with a title or certificate having freehold versus customary tenure, and (4) households without a title or certificate having freehold versus customary tenure. Each comparison is then evaluated for the impact on access to any form of credit, formal credit, and informal credit. This analysis allows for an in-depth look into which element, tenure or title, is impacting access to credit and to which type of credit, formal or informal. To conduct this analysis, matching techniques are used, including propensity score matching and the Abadie and Imbens matching method. These two methods contain both strengths and weaknesses that allow the results to support to one another. The only significant finding of the matching was a positive impact on access to credit of freehold without title over customary without certificate. Results imply that tenure, not title, impacts credit access for rural households in Uganda."--Authors' abstract.

Legal knowladge and economic development: The case of land rights in Uganda

Legal knowladge and economic development: The case of land rights in Uganda
Author: Klaus W. Deininger
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 33
Release: 2006
Genre: Land use
ISBN:

"Mixed evidence on the impact of formal title in much of Africa is often used to question the relevance of dealing with land policy issues in this continent. The authors use data from Uganda to assess the impact of a disaggregated set of rights on investment, productivity, and land values, and to test the hypothesis that individuals' lack of knowledge of the new law reduces their tenure security. Results point toward strong and positive effects of greater tenure security and transferability. Use of exogenous knowledge of its provisions as a proxy for the value of the land law suggests that this piece of legislation had major economic benefits that remain to be fully realized. "--World Bank web site.

Land Law Reform

Land Law Reform
Author:
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2006-01-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0821364693

"Land Law Reform examines the wide-spread efforts to reform land law in developing countries and countries in transition, drawing in particular upon the experience of the World Bank and the Rural Development Institute. The book considers the role of land law reform in the development process and analyzes how the World Bank has sought to support these legal changes in client countries. It reviews the experience with reform of laws affecting land access and rights in achieving gender equity, identifies opportunities for reinforcing environmentally sustainable development through land law reform, and examines from both growth and poverty alleviation perspectives the effectiveness of reforms to formalize property rights and liberalize land markets. The concluding chapter recommends some basic priorities for land law reforms. John W. Bruce is a senior counsel in the Legal Vice-Presidency of the World Bank, and a former director of the Land Tenure Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has published extensively on land law and land policy in developing countries. Renee Giovarelli, David Bledsoe, Leonard Rolfes, and Robert Mitchell are staff attorneys with the Rural Development Institute of Seattle, Washington, a nonprofit organization that promotes and advises on land-related policy and legal reform in developing and transition countries. All have done fieldwork and advised extensively on land law reform and have published widely on this topic."

Land Reforms and Economic Growth in Developing Countries

Land Reforms and Economic Growth in Developing Countries
Author: Stephen Mugenyi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2020
Genre:
ISBN:

Debate on the role of land reforms in the economic growth of developing countries has been on for a long time without firm consensus. However, the apparent failure of the 'IMF-market-driven' based economic reforms and policies to deliver quickly the much needed equitable economic growth seem to have accelerated demands for broadening of development strategies to include it. In this dissertation, the author attempts to analyze the impact of land reforms in the economic growth in developing countries. It is argued that land reforms that provide for efficient land administration and land registration system creates a framework for definition of property rights and land tenure security through issuance of land titles. It is further argued that this creates investment incentives; promotes efficiency; increases collateral value and other sector-wide externalities that promote economic growth. Using data from Uganda, the author tested the hypothesis that: “land reforms positively contribute to a country's economic growth”. The evidence presented suggests a positive statistical significant relationship between land reforms and economic growth as approximated by: a) collateral value of a title and access to the credit market (Domestic credit to private sector); b) impact of land tenure security on investment and; c) FDI (control variable). However, the impact of urbanisation (a proxy for allocative efficiency) on economic growth was negative, contrary to the earlier expectation. This may not be considered a surprise result given the high levels of urban unemployment in Uganda. The general conclusion however is that for land reform to be effective, it should be accompanied by a wide range of other programmes such as development of appropriate rural infrastructure, reform of credit institutions, marketing facilities and new technologies as a comprehensive development policy.