Backyarding: Theory and evidence for South Africa

Jan Brueckner, Claus Rabe and Harris Selod ()

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2019, vol. 79, issue C

Abstract: This paper explores the incentives for backyarding, an expanding category of urban land-use in developing countries that has proliferated South Africa. The theoretical model exposes the trade-off faced by the homeowner in deciding how much backyard land to rent out: loss of yard space consumption in return for a gain in rental income. Under common forms for preferences, the homeowner's own-consumption of yard space falls as land rent increases, causing more land to be rented to backyarders. With better job access for backyarders raising land rent by increasing their willingness-to-pay, the analysis then predicts that the extent of backyarding will be higher for parcels with good job access. This hypothesis is tested by combining a satellite-based count of backyard dwellings per parcel with job-access data. The empirical results are consistent with the prediction that better job access increases the extent of backyarding.

Keywords: Informal housing; Backyard housing; Job access; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R14 R21 R31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:regeco:v:79:y:2019:i:c:s016604621930078x

DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2019.103486

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