Exploring the evolution of land tenure and land use change in Panama: Linking land policy with development outcomes

In this paper I discuss the linkages between land use management and land use change, as well as the impacts of land use policies at the local level. Specifically, I suggest the current land tenure regime in Panama is the outcome of a path-dependent process that includes a Spanish legacy of land tenure institutions and beliefs, a policy-making process that responds to immediate or short-term development outcomes, and the broader political economic context. First, I introduce theoretical perspectives on land policy and development. These are followed by a narrative of the evolution of land tenure in Panama, in the context of develoment processes and land policies in Latin America. In the final section, with the case of lifestyle migration to Bocas del Toro, Panama, I illustrate how the pathways between land management and land use, in the context of political economic development drivers and outcomes, have significant local outcomes.     

Impact of land tenure on land use in low-income countries

The role of land tenure in agricultural development has been a subject of intensive research, particularly within the context of land and agrarian reform. The complexity of the world's major land tenure systems is well recognized and no attempt is made here to go beyond an overview as this paper limits itself to the impact of land tenure on land use in low income situations. Present land use is determined by a host of factors, of a physical/biological and socioeconomic nature. In applying land evaluation, the question it is necessary to ask is to what extent, when and where land tenure conditions act as a considerable constraining factor impeding a more optimal use of land resources. Even in what used to be low-population density areas (such as Sub-Saharan Africa) it appears that the frontier phase is becoming exhausted and the intensification of agriculture proceeds; it becomes imperative to examine land tenure in relation to land use implications. It is shown that so far a multi-disciplinary approach has often been lacking in treating land tenure and related issues.     

Land tenure and rental in Western Sudan

This paper reports on aspects of land tenure in western Sudan, especially the nature of tenure insecurity and the functioning of the land rental market. The active land rental market accounted for about one-third of cultivated land. Patterns of land rental transactions, and tests of the importance of insecurity in renting land, where the owner may not be able to reclaim land rented out, do not support the presumption that rental markets perform poorly. The role of the sheikh as administrator of village land, and the claims of large landowners to vast tracts, are, however, important political problems that must be resolved before attempts at ‘rationalizing’ land tenure.     

新农地制度下的土地产权安全性对土地租赁市场发育的影响

研究目的:检验新农地制度下的土地产权安全性对土地租赁市场发育的影响及农户参与土地租赁市场和非农就业市场间的联立性。研究方法:计量经济模型。研究结果:(1)农户租入土地决策与参与非农就业市场间存在联立性,提高土地产权的安全性能够显著激励农户租入土地的积极性;(2)农户租出土地决策与参与非农就业市场间并不存在明显的联立性,提高土地产权的安全性对土地租出决策具有微弱的激励作用。研究结论:新农地制度下的土地产权不安全性成为制约土地租赁市场发育的重要产权因素,土地的社会保障功能放大了农地产权不安全性对土地租赁市场发育带来的负面影响。     

Land Tenure,Tenure Security and Farm Efficiency: Panel Evidence from the Philippines

This article tests the relationships among formalised property rights, land tenure contracts and productive efficiency in farming. Using four rounds of panel data from 230 rice farms in the Philippines, we measure the effects of land tenure arrangements on farm efficiency using a stochastic production frontier model. We test for the allocative efficiency of observed land rental markets. We also test how land tenure security affects farmers' investment decisions. Results suggest that, despite the presence of formalised titles, the rental market remains inefficient at allocating land. In contrast, the unformalised tenure contracts used by farmers appear to provide tenure security.     

土地整理规划设计中的土地权属问题

通过分析国内外土地整理权属调整研究的现状,得出我国现阶段将权属调整和规划设计相结合方面的研究还很少。基于土地整理规划设计方面的实践,运用理论分析与实践相结合的方法,针对土地整理规划设计中四大工程,分别分析了各个工程中涉及的权属问题,并有针对性地提出建议及对策。     

Planning for social inclusion: The impact of socioeconomic inequities on the informal development of farmland in suburban Beijing

Informal development on farmland is not only a major problem facing thousands of people, but also a major challenge to land use planning. In the rapidly growing literature on informal land development in China, most authors claim that ambiguous property rights and the dual land tenure system are the primary factors involved. As a result, existing state-led land use planning responses to informal development are solely focused on strengthening the legal regulation of land development. This paper challenges this approach, on the basis of the theory of urban informality. By examining many illegal gated communities in suburban Beijing, the paper argues that the informal development of farmland on the urban fringe is the result of local grassroots groups spontaneously responding to socioeconomic inequities in the context of transition to a market economy. These inequities mainly concern distributive inequity, procedural inequity and contextual inequity in relation to land use. It appears that the ongoing market-oriented initiatives of the state government could worsen informal land development unless these socioeconomic inequalities at the local level are tackled. The growing civil society is another change to the state's control of informal land development in China's cities. A new land use planning system which has more concern for social inclusion rather than focusing on centralized control is imperative in China.     

中国农村集体建设用地使用权流转政策的梳理与展望

研究目的：梳理并展望当前中国农村集体建设用地使用权流转政策。研究方法：理论评述与现状分析结合。研究结果：在分析中国农村集体建设用地使用权流转政策背景的基础上，从流转的限制条件、价格确定、收益分配以及宅基地、商品房开放及直接入市6方面综合归纳了中国农村集体建设用地使用权流转的基本政策，并分析得出当前存在所有权主体悬空且归属不清、使用主体限制严格且权能残缺不全、法制建设滞后且现行法规规定相互矛盾这三个主要问题。研究结论：为进一步促进、完善中国的农村集体建设用地使用权流转提出明确集体土地所有权主体和集体建设用地使用权的权能、做好征地制度改革工作、建立集体建设用地评估制度、做好用途管制和土地集中统一供应工作、建立农村土地金融制度、建立集体建设用土地流转登记制度等多项相关政策建议。     

我国自然保护区土地权属法律制度及其存在的主要问题

我国现有法律法规中的自然保护区土地权属法律制度,片面强调自然保护的一面,而漠视了土地经济功能的发挥和自然保护区土地的财产属性。政府因财政负担能力有限,将土地经营管理权授予自然保护区管理机构,意味着自然保护区管理机构可以利用行政管理权、土地经营权集于一身的便利,追逐土地利益。法律所追求的自然保护目标难以实现,而自然保护区土地利益并未服务于解决社区贫困问题,造成了社区与政府之间长期的利益冲突。     

Agriculture,Land Tenure and International Migration in Rural Guatemala

In this paper, we ask what the effects of migration and remittances are on land tenure, agriculture and forests, based on empirical evidence from four rural communities in Guatemala. Our results suggest that remittances improve migrant families' access to agricultural land which – depending on the context – fosters more equitable local land distribution patterns or land concentration by migrant families. Changes in the political economy of the country also combine to stimulate these patterns, while remittances contribute to secure land rights held by migrant households. But even though migrant households are acquiring more land, the trend does not change the traditional pattern of land distribution in the country. Regarding forests, significant changes were not observed in two of the communities, while in one we observed forest decline and in the last, forest recovery. A trend away from reliance on the land for survival results in forest recovery.     

The Closing Frontier: Agrarian Change, Immigrants and the 'Squatter Menace' in Gokwe, 1980-1990s

‘Squatting’ in the communal areas of Zimbabwe has been largely ignored in the literature because it is assumed that it does not exist in a ‘communal’ land tenure system. This article argues that ‘squatting’ in Gokwe villages has become a common strategy by landless immigrants to access land. Gokwe has been a frontier region for many immigrants in search of land since the 1950s with intense pressure on land by the 1990s. As the frontier closed, the question of citizenship in Gokwe villages became more signi?cant than ever before. Those who are not formally registered as residents are de?ned by local government authorities and established villagers as ‘squatters’ who should be evicted. The article traces how local authorities and established villagers have responded to what they perceive as the ‘squatter menace’. It further examines the means used by ‘squatters’ to lay claims to land and to defend those claims in Gokwe villages.     

Capitalization of land development rights in rural China: A choice experiment on individuals’ preferences in peri-urban Shanghai

The capitalization of land development rights is acknowledged as the key to improving compensations for rural landholders and ameliorating land-related social conflicts in peri-urban China. Investigations into reasonable as well as feasible compensation standards and the capitalization mechanism are yet to be done. This study uses a survey-based choice experiment to empirically estimate the value of land development rights in peri-urban Shanghai for three forms of rural land conversion – acquisition, consolidation and (informal) sale. The results show that heterogeneity across individuals’ preferences translates into different utilities from land development, which affects individual’s willingness to participate in this process. This effect is found to be the strongest for land sales on the informal market. If, however, land conversion is managed by local governments and rural collectives, the expected utilities of individuals have no significant effect on the amount of land development. The results suggest that capitalizing land development rights under consideration of land attributes and individuals’ preferences would lift compensation standard to a level that strikes a balance among competing land-related interests. In addition, it would promote China’s land development by bypassing the institutional constraints imposed by the current land tenure system.     

城乡统筹视角下的集体建设用地市场发育测度及影响因素研究 ——以30个入市改革试点为例

研究目的:探究中国当前集体建设用地市场的构建和发育情况及其与国有建设用地市场的关系,分析影响集体建设用地市场发育程度的因素。研究方法:面积比重测度法,逐步最小二乘法。研究结果:(1)各试点区县的集体土地市场发育程度分化明显,除广东(0.77)、广西(0.53)外,各试点区县的市场发育指数均不超过0.4;(2)集体建设用地市场发育指数主要受建设用地需求和地方政策两方面的影响,而试点时长和经济发展水平影响不显著。研究结论:受国有建设用地市场影响,在近郊和乡村,集体建设用地市场的构建和发育遵循不同的逻辑;在市场发育初期,地方政府应主动构建有效的市场机制和增值收益分配机制,以培育城乡统一的建设用地市场。     

地方政府土地财政依赖一定会推高城市一级土地市场化水平吗? ——基于2003—2015年中国省级面板数据的检验

研究目的：在深入分析地方政府土地财政依赖对城市一级土地市场作用机理的基础上，利用2003—2015年中国31个省（市、区）（不包括港澳台地区）的面板数据进行计量检验，测定地方政府土地财政依赖度对城市一级土地市场化率的影响程度。研究方法：计量经济分析方法。研究结果：为弥补地方政府土地财政缺口的刚性需求，地方政府领导人会权变地选择一级土地市场上各类用地的出让方式和出让量。土地财政依赖度与城市一级土地市场化率之间存在倒U型关系。研究结论：当土地财政依赖度与一级土地市场化率均较低时，地方政府会在一级土地市场上出让土地时适当增加“招拍挂”的比例，从而在提高土地财政依赖度的同时提升一级土地市场化率；当土地财政依赖度较高但一级土地市场化率较低时，地方政府会增加一级土地市场上“招拍挂”的比例，在降低土地财政依赖程度的同时提升一级土地市场化率。     

改革和完善城市土地产权制度的思考

我国城市现行土地权利体系已难以适应土地市场发展的需要,要解决现行土地产权制度存在的问题,必须在明确所有权主体和职能的前提下,强化土地使用权的地位,理顺多种形态使用权之间的关系,从而降低土地使用权的交易成本,促进土地有偿使用规模的不断扩大。     

Using a Delphi approach to identify the most efficacious interventions to improve Indonesia’s forest and land governance

Improvements to forest and land governance are key to addressing deforestation and degradation of peatlands in Indonesia. While this is a priority area, the steps to achieving good forest and land governance have been under-researched. There is a need for better links between theoretically informed academic analysis and work in the field. This study drew together a panel of experts on forest and land governance using a Delphi method to discuss the underlying drivers of deforestation and peatland degradation, and correspondingly, to identify interventions to improve land and forest governance in Indonesia. Seventeen panelists with an average of more than 12 years’ experience reached agreement over four governance interventions: increasing the capacity of local communities to manage and monitor forests and natural resources (65% of panelist’s votes); identify strengths and weaknesses of community organisations and institutions, and develop strategies to improve their performance (65% of panelist’s votes); gazetting forests to clarify land boundaries and determine which areas should be village, community and state forest zone (59% of panelist’s votes); and, integrating participatory community maps into spatial plans to protect local communities and indigenous peoples’ development needs (53% of panelist’s votes). They also supported action research involving the government, private sector and communities, and political economy approaches to researching forest and land governance issues. Panelists indicated that community level approaches such as securing community forest tenure through clarifying land claims and integrating local land tenure into spatial planning had an important role in sustainable forest management.     

Customary vs Private Property Rights? Dynamics and Trajectories of Vernacular Land Markets in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Contemporary discourse on land in Africa is polarized between advocates of tenure reform through state registration of individual titles to land and others who claim that customary or 'communal' tenure is the only check against landlessness among the poor in the African countryside, and that 'pro-poor' land policy should therefore strengthen customary rights to land. This paper draws on a growing body of evidence on the emergence of vernacular rural land sales and rental markets to question assumptions that underlie the non-market 'ideal type' communal tenure model that has historically dominated policy thinking in Africa, and continues to be shared by both sides of the current land tenure reform debate. The paper argues that recognition of the specific characteristics of 'vernacular land markets'– commoditized transfers of land within the framework of customary tenure – is essential if state land policies are to succeed in promoting the interests of the poor.     

农地流转问题综述

农地流转是农地制度市场化改革的内在要求。所有权的缺陷和农民对地权认识的模糊性阻碍了农地的流转。地权稳定性可以增加农民对农地的需求和投入，土地调整的功能和作用还没有一致的结论。选举产生的乡村干部可以满足农民对农地流转的意愿，而乡村干部的决策模式有待进一步的实证研究。     

Population pressure,rural-to-rural migration and evolution of land tenure institutions: The case of Uganda

This study examines the evolutionary process of land tenure systems in Uganda from communal to private ownership with a special attention to the role of rural-to-rural migration as a key driving force. By tracing migration patterns using unique longitudinal household survey data containing detailed information on land tenure and migration history, we found that immigrant-dominated communities have a higher incidence of private land ownership even after controlling for population density and market access. We also found that land markets are more active in immigrant-dominated communities and that private land ownership results in higher agricultural productivity.     

Systems approach to pro-poor land reforms: A concept paper

There has been renewed interest in the academic discourse on land reforms due to recent high profile works suggesting a positive correlation between reforms and poverty reduction. Land is held under different tenure regimes in different regions, countries and communities. These are often in the form of community tenure, state tenure, individual tenure or a mixture of two or three of them. However, land reformers are in constant debate as to which of the three offers the most appropriate pathway to poverty reduction. The policy outcomes of such debates have been to superimpose one tenure option over the other in differing situations. This article conceptualises a metaphorical approach to land reforms grounded on general systems theory. It advocates for contextualised methodological rigour and an approach to land reforms reliant on the influencing variables of alternative land tenure regimes as opposed to wanton superimposition of one form of tenure over the other.