Certified to Stay? Long-Run Experimental Evidence on Land Formalization and Widows’ Tenure Security in Benin

Ioana Botea, Markus Goldstein, Kenneth Houngbedji, Florence Kondylis, Michael O’Sullivan and Harris Selod
Additional contact information
Ioana Botea: World Bank
Markus Goldstein: Center for Global Development
Michael O’Sullivan: World Bank
Harris Selod: World Bank

No DT/2025/03, Working Papers from DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation)

Abstract: In settings where women’s land rights are informal, the death of a husband can severely limit a widow’s access to land and her ability to remain in her home— especially in the absence of a male heir. This paper examines whether large-scale land formalization programs can improve widows’ land access. Using data from a randomized controlled trial in rural Benin, the analysis finds that widows in villages with land formalization are more likely to stay in their homes four years after the program, with the strongest effects among those without a male heir. The paper identifies two key mechanisms: enhanced community recognition of women’s land rights and greater decision-making power over land resources. These findings highlight the potential of land formalization to strengthen women’s tenure security and promote their long-term economic stability in similar settings.

Keywords: property rights; land administration; gender; widowhood; intra-household insurance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D23 I31 J12 J16 O17 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2025-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev, nep-exp and nep-iue
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://dial.ird.fr/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/202 ... _to_Stay_DIAL-WP.pdf First version, 2025 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Certified to Stay? Long-Run Experimental Evidence on Land Formalization and Widows’ Tenure Security in Benin (2025)
Working Paper: Certified to Stay ? Long-Run Experimental Evidence on Land Formalization and Widows’ Tenure Security in Benin (2025)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt202503

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Loic Le Pezennec ().