Custom, Capitalism, and the State: The Origins of Insecure Land Tenure in West Africa

Kathryn Firmin-Sellers

Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), 2000, vol. 156, issue 3, 513-

Abstract: This paper invokes foundational property rights theories to explain the persistence of insecure tenure in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. The case studies affirm the theories' core propositions: when relative factor prices change, actors seek more narrowly defined rights to newly valued resources. Their efforts may be blocked by costly decision-making rules, distributional conflict, or the inabiltiy to credibly commit to the new rights. This paper also highlights the way in which culture - the beliefs, rituals, and practices that promote a community's share understanding or mode of behavior - circumscribes actors' choice sets, and, thus, influences the path of institutional change.

JEL-codes: K4 O1 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
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