Ownership and control of Maori land: Some lessons for South Africa

New Zealand replaced customary tenure of Maori land with titles. Some issues are relevant to South Africa. Massive redistribution of Maori land is accounted for by inadequate property rights conferred fay colonial legislation. Institutions emerged to deal with problems of landlessness and low farm incomes created by titling, among which private incorporations and trusts were particularly successful Such institutions may under certain conditions be useful to smallholders in the former homelands and to groups of farmers who acquire freehold land in South Africa.     

Homeownership, committed expenditure risk, and the stockholding puzzle

Kimball (1991) showed that consumers who face an unavoidablerisk will display 'temperance', meaning that they will increasetheir holdings of safe assets. In principle, temperance couldprovide an explanation for the stockholding puzzle, which isthe microeconomic manifestation of the equity premium puzzle.Previous work has shown that the temperance effect induced bylabor income uncertainty is too small to explain the stockholdingpuzzle. This paper finds that committed expenditure risk associatedwith homeownership induces enough additional temperance to explainthe puzzle.     

Uzbekistan: the silk road to nowhere?

The Central Asian country of Uzbekistan has adopted a unique transition strategy of gradual, state-guided development in which stability and equality are principal objectives and in which growth is sought for now by exporting staple raw materials and importing capital equipment to assure energy independence and to invest in backward-linkages into cotton fabricating, chemicals, and other manufacturing branches. Sharp criticisms of the'Uzbek Road'by multinational agencies unfairly neglect positive aspects of the transition record to date in comparison with other post-Soviet states of the area.     

Broadening access to land markets: Financing emerging farmers in South Africa

This article reports on a pilot survey of commercial farms acquired by disadvantaged people in the province of Kwazulu‐Natal, and describes a recent financial strategy to improve access to land. The survey tested a sampling technique to gather information about the rate of land redistribution, the source of terms and conditions of loans used to finance land, and the nature of property rights, managerial arrangements and land use patterns on farms acquired by disadvantaged people. It was estimated that only 0,09 per cent of the farmland available for redistribution was transferred to disadvantaged people during 1995. This low rate of transfer was attributed largely to legislation regulating the subdivision of farmland, and liquidity problems created by traditional mortgage loans. Recent experiments involving mortgage loans with graduated repayment schedules have helped to address the cashflow problem. However, these financial innovations, funded largely by the private sector, are not widely available and their impact is constrained by the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act. It is recommended that the government amend or scrap this Act, and include financial strategies used by the private sector in its own range of land redistribution programmes.     

Communities,institutions and natural resources: An assessment of case‐studies from KwaZulu Natal

This article describes three community‐based organisations (CBOs) that were established to protect natural resources in parts of KwaZulu Natal. The object is to determine why some CBOs are more successful than others. The case‐studies (Dukuduku Forest, Shongweni Resources Reserve and Thukela Biosphere Reserve) are analysed and compared using criteria suggested by the theory of institutional economics. It is concluded that the rural poor are unlikely to comply with rules restricting their access to natural resources unless the benefits are obvious. Creating appropriate management institutions is a necessary first step, but it may also be necessary to subsidise their enforcement costs and development programmes.