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Land Reform in Developing Countries: Property Rights and Property Wrongs
Abstract
Land reforms are laws that are intended, and likely, to cut poverty by raising the poor’s share of land rights. That raises questions about property rights as old as moral philosophy, and issues of efficiency and fairness that dominate policy from Bolivia to Nepal. Classic reforms directly transfer land from rich to poor. However, much else has been marketed as land reform: the restriction of tenancy, but also its de-restriction; collectivisation, but also de-collectivisation; land consolidation, but also land division. In 1955-2000, genuine land reform affected over a billion people, and almost as many hectares. Is land reform still alive, for example in Bolivia, South Africa and Nepal? Or is it dead and, if so, is this because it has succeeded, or because it has failed? There has been massive research on land reform and this book builds on some surprising findings. Small farms’ share in land is rising in most of Asia and Africa. This is not driven (as widely claimed) by growth in rural population or farm productivity, but by the relative efficiency of small farms, and in some cases by land reform. Whether land reform helps the poor depends not only on land transfers, but at least as much on its effects through employment, non-farm activity, GDP growth and distribution, as well as the village status and power of the poor. Avoidance, evasion and even distortion of land reform laws sometimes advance their main aims. Liberalisation and its accompaniments (such as supermarkets) can be powerful friends or fatal foes of small farms and land reform. This book will be of great interest to students, researchers and consultants working on agriculture, farm organisation, rural development and poverty reduction, with special emphasis on developing countries.
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“Various scholars have noted that the misgivings that prevail about small-scale farming influence land (reform) policies in many countries (Hughes, 2006;Scott, 1998), despite growing evidence of small holder productivity (Lipton, 2009).”
From Land Reform in Southern Africa: Myths, Visions and the Harsh Realities of Development and Justice: Review Essay: Land Reform in Southern Africa (2011) · cites this paper as Lipton, 2009
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Murtazashvili, J. B., & Murtazashvili, I. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108642217.010
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Murtazashvili, J. B., & Murtazashvili, I. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108642217.004
Simpson, J., & Carmona, J. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108766999.009
Land Reform and Rural Conflict in Agrarian Economies Evidence from 1930s SpainPreprint
Domènech, J., Basco, S., & Maravall, L. (2022) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4051720
Murtazashvili, J. B., & Murtazashvili, I. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108642217.012
Kapstein, E. B. (2017) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316884652.002
Nepal’s Policies Toward Agrarian Reform
Acharya, N. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3458-1
Simpson, J., & Carmona, J. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108766999.017
Besson, F., Guillain, A., & Harding, W. (2016) · Caliban · doi:10.4000/caliban.3192
Nepal’s Policies Toward Agrarian Reform
Acharya, N. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-66252-3_3458
Dolcerocca, A. (2023) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-87624-1_176-1
Maimba, T., & Thebe, V. (2023) · Journal of Land and Rural Studies · doi:10.1177/23210249231162206
“For the next half-century at least, where agriculture continues central to the lives of the poor, the role of land reform will not decline (Lipton, 2009, p. 10) On the other hand, Hall (2009) described land reform as efforts to correct what are seen as historical distortions in the allocation of…”
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Molope, G. E., Seeletse, S. M., & Ladzani, W. (2023) · International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478) · doi:10.20525/ijrbs.v12i10.3027
“Lipton (2009) counsels that extending property rights protection to the deprived is a vital PA strategy that nations should implement.”
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Martinelli, P., & Pellegrino, D. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4850005
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Simpson, J. (2024) · Palgrave studies in economic history · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-67281-1_6
Agriculture and the Pursuit of Economic Growth
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Васильева, О. Г., & Михайлович, Б. А. (2024) · Известия Дальневосточного федерального университета. Экономика и управление · doi:10.24866/2311-2271/2023-4/5-18
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Cousins, B. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-25900-5_89-1
Anaafo, D., Asare‐Nuamah, P., & Beuchelt, T. (2025) · Development in Practice · doi:10.1080/09614524.2025.2514539
“Earlier reforms focused on individual ownership and titling to promote security of tenure, investments in land and allocative efficiency (Lipton 2009; Sikor and Müller 2009).”
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Ghana's Land Reform Agenda and Local Realities of Women's Land Access for Irrigation Farming in Garu
Akaateba, M. A., & Mbabugri, A. S. (2026) · Africa Spectrum · doi:10.1177/00020397261468978
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Metadata
- Authors
- Lipton, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Sussex (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Lipton, Michael
- Venue
- Routledge eBooks
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Published
- 2009-06-24
- OpenAlex
- W2798728184
- Cited by
- 244
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 35 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 10.50
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Routledge eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Land Rights and Reforms
- Social Sciences › Development › Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agricultural Innovations and Practices
- Keywords
- land reform, property rights, land redistribution, smallholder farming, poverty reduction, rural development, land tenure, land consolidation, land division, collectivization, rural employment, off-farm activities, developing countries
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