(De facto) Historical Ethnic Borders and Land Tenure in Sub-Saharan Africa

Emilio Depetris-Chauvin and Ömer Özak

No 1261, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: We study the role of proximity to historical ethnic borders in determining individual land ownership in Sub-Saharan Africa. Following an instrumental variable strategy, we document that individuals have a lower likelihood of owning land near historical ethnic borders. In particular, the likelihood of owning land decreases by 15 percentage points, i.e., about 1/3 of the mean rate of landownership, for rural migrants who move from 57km (90th percentile) to 2 km (10th percentile) from the border. This result aligns with the view that competition for land is stronger and property rights are weaker close to historical ethnic borders in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Keywords: Land ownership; Borders; Property Rights; Historical Homelands; Development; Africa; Voronoi Tessellation; Thiessen Tessellation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 N57 O13 O17 O43 P48 Q15 Q34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-evo
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https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/270739/1/GLO-DP-1261.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: (De facto) historical ethnic borders and land tenure in Sub-Saharan Africa (2024)
Working Paper: (De Facto) Historical Ethnic Borders and Land Tenure in Sub-Saharan Africa (2023)
Working Paper: (De facto) Historical Ethnic Borders and Land Tenure in Sub-Saharan Africa (2023)
Working Paper: (De facto) Historical Ethnic Borders and Land Tenure in Sub-Saharan Africa (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:1261

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