Land Reform

John Danilovich and Jonathan Reckford write about the problem of third world poor who don’t have secure title to their land, relying instead on traditional understandings. This situation is unfavorable to the poor themselves, and also constitutes a substantial barrier to economic mobility:

The absence of clear, enforceable rules and the lack of a simple piece of paper, like a deed, are often roadblocks on the pathway from poverty to prosperity for the world’s poor.

Secure tenure — the freedom to live without fear of eviction, the freedom of knowing that property rights are protected — matters not only for you, but also for these individuals, families and communities in the poorest corners of the world. Having a place to call home, or a piece of land to farm, or a place to start a business matters to the poor and non-poor alike, and all of us should have secure access to rights of use, ownership and transfer.

Secure tenure is an economic matter. Tenure security can provide opportunities for investment and accumulation of wealth and can encourage business development. Farmers make more productive use of land they own, investing in improvements or higher-value crops and safeguarding it from environmental degradation.

For households and small businesses, legal records of land ownership are one factor necessary to access credit.

Reducing developing world poverty would, of course, be a good unto itself. But when the United States is seen as a leader on such issues, then other countries and publics become more willing to see themselves as benefiting from America’s leading position in global affairs and are more likely to sympathize with our security concerns. Meanwhile, the human potential of the world’s poorest citizens is at the moment probably our most egregiously underutilized resource. If the poorest of the poor could more fully participate in the global economy, it would put us all on a path to more stable prosperity.