 Can Partible Inheritance Explain Land Fragmentation? The Case of BulgariaNatalia Boliari Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, 2017, vol. 6, issue 3, 334-353 Abstract: Partible inheritance, alone or together with population growth, is widely assumed to be the fundamental cause of land fragmentation in Bulgaria. This study questions the explanatory power of these two supply-side causes of fragmentation. Relying on historical sources and an analysis of historical agricultural census data, the article presents evidence that partible inheritance and population growth are unlikely causes of land fragmentation. The study also traces the development of land markets to establish the purchasing behaviour of farmers. It reveals documented high demand for scattered plots of land in the years before Liberation from Ottoman rule. Attention is drawn to demand-side factors such as the risk aversion of farmers and optimization of self-employment, among others, as the likely fundamental causes of fragmentation. The article suggests that the possible endogenous nature of fragmentation in the country must be taken into account when policies are designed to target its undesirable aspects. Keywords: Bulgaria; land fragmentation; partible inheritance; supply-side causes; demand-side causes (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:agspub:v:6:y:2017:i:3:p:334-353 Access Statistics for this article More articles in Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy from Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.