IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/uwp/landec/v84y2008i3p409-422.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

India’s Disappearing Common Lands: Fuzzy Boundaries, Encroachment, and Evolving Property Rights

Author

Listed:
  • Elizabeth J.Z. Robinson

Abstract

Opportunistic land encroachment occurs in many low-income countries, gradually yet pervasively, until discrete areas of common land disappear. This paper, motivated by field observations in Karnataka, India, demonstrates that such an evolution of property rights from common to private may be efficient when the boundaries between common and private land are poorly defined, or "fuzzy." Using a multi-period optimization model, and introducing the concept of stock and flow enforcement, I show how effectiveness of enforcement effort, whether encroachment is reversible, and punitive fines, influence whether an area of common land is fully defined and protected or gradually or rapidly encroached.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth J.Z. Robinson, 2008. "India’s Disappearing Common Lands: Fuzzy Boundaries, Encroachment, and Evolving Property Rights," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 84(3), pages 409-422.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:landec:v:84:y:2008:i:3:p:409-422
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://le.uwpress.org/cgi/reprint/84/3/409
    Download Restriction: A subscripton is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clarke, Harry R. & Reed, William J. & Shrestha, Ram M., 1993. "Optimal enforcement of property rights on developing country forests subject to illegal logging," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 271-293, September.
    2. Nadkarni, M. V. & Pasha, Syed Ajmal, 1991. "Developing Uncultivated Lands: Some Issues from Karnataka's Experience in Social Forestry," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 46(4), October.
    3. Matthew J. Baker, 2003. "An Equilibrium Conflict Model of Land Tenure in Hunter-Gatherer Societies," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(1), pages 124-173, February.
    4. Nash, John, 1991. "To make the punishment fit the crime: The theory and statistical estimation of a multi-period optimal deterrence model," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 101-110, May.
    5. Hany R Clarke & Ram M. Shrestha, 1989. "Traditional Energy Programs with an Open Access Forest Resource: Policy Implications," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 45-57.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kocur-Bera, Katarzyna, 2021. "Nature of common lands in a post-communist country – The Polish perspective," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    2. Thapliyal, Sneha & Mukherji, Arnab & Malghan, Deepak, 2019. "Economic inequality and loss of commons: Evidence from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 693-712.
    3. Albers, H.J., 2010. "Spatial modeling of extraction and enforcement in developing country protected areas," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 165-179, April.

    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. Gregory S. Amacher & Erkki Koskela & Markku Ollikainen, 2004. "Deforestation, Production Intensity and Land Use under Insecure Property Rights," CESifo Working Paper Series 1128, CESifo.
    2. Sanchez-Pages Santiago & Straub Stéphane, 2010. "The Emergence of Institutions," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-38, September.
    3. Nils-Petter Lagerlof, 2002. "The Roads To and From Serfdom," Macroeconomics 0212011, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Thomas Vendryes, 2014. "Peasants Against Private Property Rights: A Review Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 971-995, December.
    5. Gregory K. Dow & Clyde G. Reed & Simon Woodcock, 2016. "The Economics Of Exogamous Marriage In Small-Scale Societies," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(4), pages 1805-1823, October.
    6. Matthew J. Baker & Jonathan Conning, 2023. "A Model of Enclosures: Coordination, Conflict, and Efficiency in the Transformation of Land Property Rights," Papers 2311.01592, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2024.
    7. Kimbrough, Erik O. & Wilson, Bart J., 2013. "Insiders, outsiders, and the adaptability of informal rules to ecological shocks," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 29-40.
    8. Satish Chand, 2010. "From Predation to Production Post-conflict," Working Papers 200, Center for Global Development.
    9. Anna Balestra & Raul Caruso, 2023. "Vaccines between war and market," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 26(1), pages 24-39, March.
    10. Fatema, Naureen & Kibriya, Shahriar, 2018. "The impact of land title on household conflict and perceived damages: Evidence from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274239, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Jordan Adamson & Erik O Kimbrough, 2023. "The supply side determinants of territory," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 60(2), pages 209-225, March.
    12. María Cubel & Santiago Sanchez-Pages, 2020. "Property Out of Conflict: A Survey and Some New Results," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 130(6), pages 891-927.
    13. Gregory S. Amacher & Erkki Koskela & Markku Ollikainen, 2004. "Socially Optimal Royalty Design and Illegal Logging under Alternative Penalty Schemes," CESifo Working Paper Series 1131, CESifo.
    14. Elizabeth J. Z. Robinson, 2004. "Wanted dead and alive: Are hunting and protection of endangered species compatible?," CSAE Working Paper Series 2004-20, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    15. McAllister, Ryan R.J. & Smajgl, Alex & Asafu-Adjaye, John, 2007. "Forest logging and institutional thresholds in developing south-east Asian economies: A conceptual model," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(8), pages 1079-1089, May.
    16. Adamson, Jordan & Wilson, Bart J., 2024. "Territory in the state of nature," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 490-509.
    17. Bertacchini, Enrico & Grazzini, Jakob & Vallino, Elena, 2013. "Emergence and Evolution of Property Rights: an Agent Based Perspective," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201340, University of Turin.
    18. Louis Hotte, 2005. "Natural-resource exploitation with costly enforcement of property rights," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 57(3), pages 497-521, July.
    19. Pi Jiancai & Zhou Yu, 2015. "Rural Property Rights, Migration, and Welfare in Developing Countries," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(3), pages 997-1029, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • Q24 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Land

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:uwp:landec:v:84:y:2008:i:3:p:409-422. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://le.uwpress.org/ .

    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.