IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v47y2015i2p485-500.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tenure Security as a Predictor of Housing Investment in Low-Income Settlements: Testing a Tripartite Model

Author

Listed:
  • Jean-Louis van Gelder

    (Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, PO Box 71304, 1008BH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Eva C Luciano

    (Department of Psychology, University of Zürich, Binzmuhlestrasse 14/9, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland)

Abstract

Tenure security is widely believed to contribute to low-income settlement development by encouraging investment in housing improvement. However, in spite of consensus about its importance, it is still unclear what tenure security exactly entails and few studies have examined how it relates to housing improvement. Using survey data from six informal neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, Argentina, we empirically test a model that specifies how the different types of tenure security that feature in academic and policy debates relate to each other, and the extent to which each predicts investment in housing improvement. We find that legal tenure security and de facto security of tenure influence investment in part through increases in perceptions of tenure security. We conclude that the hypothesized model accurately predicts investment in housing improvement and discuss how these findings inform current debates on tenure security and informality.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Louis van Gelder & Eva C Luciano, 2015. "Tenure Security as a Predictor of Housing Investment in Low-Income Settlements: Testing a Tripartite Model," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 47(2), pages 485-500, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:47:y:2015:i:2:p:485-500
    DOI: 10.1068/a130151p
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a130151p
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a130151p?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alain Durand Lasserve & Harris Selod, 2009. "The Formalization of Urban Land Tenure in Developing Countries," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-00813117, HAL.
    2. Varley, Ann, 2007. "Gender and Property Formalization: Conventional and Alternative Approaches," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 1739-1753, October.
    3. Rafael Di Tella & Sebastian Galiant & Ernesto Schargrodsky, 2007. "The Formation of Beliefs: Evidence from the Allocation of Land Titles to Squatters," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(1), pages 209-241.
    4. Jan K. Brueckner & Harris Selod, 2009. "A Theory of Urban Squatting and Land-Tenure Formalization in Developing Countries," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 28-51, February.
    5. Espen Sjaastad & Daniel W. Bromley, 2000. "The Prejudices of Property Rights: On Individualism, Specificity, and Security in Property Regimes," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 18(4), pages 365-389, December.
    6. Jean‐Louis Van Gelder, 2009. "Legal Tenure Security, Perceived Tenure Security and Housing Improvement in Buenos Aires: An Attempt towards Integration," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 126-146, March.
    7. Omar M. Razzaz, 1993. "Examining Property Rights and Investment in Informal Settlements: The Case of Jordan," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 69(4), pages 341-355.
    8. Jean-Louis Van Gelder, 2013. "Then I'll Huff, and I'll Puff, and I'll . . . : A Natural Experiment on Property Titling, Housing Improvement and the Psychology of Tenure Security," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 734-749, March.
    9. Ann Varley, 1987. "The Relationship between Tenure Legalization and Housing Improvements: Evidence from Mexico City," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 18(3), pages 463-481, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abdillah, Kiky Kirina & Abdul Manaf, Azima & Awang, Abd Hair, 2022. "Land tenure security for low-income residents' urban livelihoods: A human development approach review of temporary occupation license," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    2. Shohei Nakamura, 2017. "Does slum formalisation without title provision stimulate housing improvement? A case of slum declaration in Pune, India," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(7), pages 1715-1735, May.
    3. Shohei Nakamura, 2014. "Impact of slum formalization on self-help housing construction: A case of slum notification in India," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(16), pages 3420-3444, December.
    4. Brueckner, Jan K., 2013. "Urban squatting with rent-seeking organizers," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 561-569.
    5. Han, Wenjing & Zhang, Xiaoling & Zhang, Zhengfeng, 2019. "The role of land tenure security in promoting rural women’s empowerment: Empirical evidence from rural China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 280-289.
    6. Brueckner, Jan K. & Lall, Somik V., 2015. "Cities in Developing Countries," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1399-1455, Elsevier.
    7. Indivar Jonnalagadda & Ryan Stock & Karan Misquitta, 2021. "TITLING AS A CONTESTED PROCESS: Conditional Land Rights and Subaltern Citizenship in South India," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3), pages 458-476, May.
    8. Qian, Chen & Antonides, Gerrit & Heerink, Nico & Zhu, Xueqin & Ma, Xianlei, 2022. "An economic-psychological perspective on perceived land tenure security: Evidence from rural eastern China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    9. Nakamura, Shohei, 2017. "Tenure Security Premium in Informal Housing Markets: A Spatial Hedonic Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 184-198.
    10. Harris Selod & Lara Tobin, 2018. "The spatial sorting of informal dwellers in cities in developing countries: Theory and evidence," Working Papers halshs-01703178, HAL.
    11. Sumila Gulyani & Ellen M Bassett, 2010. "The Living Conditions Diamond: An Analytical and Theoretical Framework for Understanding Slums," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(9), pages 2201-2219, September.
    12. Letrouit,Lucie Michele Maya & Selod,Harris, 2020. "Trust or Property Rights ? Can Trusted Relationships Substitute for Costly Land Registration in West African Cities ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9310, The World Bank.
    13. Galiani, Sebastián & Gertler, Paul J. & Undurraga, Raimundo & Cooper, Ryan & Martínez, Sebastián & Ross, Adam, 2017. "Shelter from the storm: Upgrading housing infrastructure in Latin American slums," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 187-213.
    14. Jedwab, Remi & Christiaensen, Luc & Gindelsky, Marina, 2017. "Demography, urbanization and development: Rural push, urban pull and…urban push?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 6-16.
    15. Marcus H. Böhme & Sarah Kups, 2017. "The economic effects of labour immigration in developing countries: A literature review," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 335, OECD Publishing.
    16. Carmine Guerriero, 2023. "Property rights, transaction costs, and the limits of the market," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 143-176, June.
    17. M. Picard,Pierre & Selod,Harris, 2020. "Customary Land Conversion and the Formation of the African City," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9192, The World Bank.
    18. Flower, Benjamin C.R. & Ganepola, Piyal & Popuri, Srinivasa & Turkstra, Jan, 2023. "Securing tenure for conflict-affected populations: A case study of land titling and fit-for-purpose land administration in post-conflict Sri Lanka," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    19. Koroso, Nesru H. & Zevenbergen, Jaap A. & Lengoiboni, Monica, 2019. "Land institutions’ credibility: Analyzing the role of complementary institutions," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 553-564.
    20. Estebania Teyeliz Martínez-Jiménez & Julie Le Gallo & Enrique Pérez-Campuzano & Alonso Aguilar Ibarra, 2022. "The effects of land price in the peri-urban fringe of Mexico City: Environmental amenities for informal land parcel purchasers," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(1), pages 222-241, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:47:y:2015:i:2:p:485-500. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.