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Take What You Can: Property Rights, Contestability and Conflict

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  • Thiemo Fetzer
  • Samuel Marden

Abstract

Weak property rights are strongly associated with underdevelopment, low state capacity and civil conflict. In economic models of conflict, outbreaks of violence require two things: the prize must be both valuable and contestable. This paper exploits spatial and temporal variation in contestability of land title to explore the relation between (in) secure property rights and conflict in the Brazilian Amazon. Our estimates suggest that, at the local level, assignment of secure property rights eliminates substantively all land related conflict, even without changes in enforcement. Changes in land use are also consistent with reductions in land related conflict.
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  • Thiemo Fetzer & Samuel Marden, 2017. "Take What You Can: Property Rights, Contestability and Conflict," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(601), pages 757-783, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:econjl:v::y:2017:i:601:p:757-783
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecoj.2017.127.issue-601
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    Cited by:

    1. Benito Arruñada & Marco Fabbri & Michael Faure, 2022. "Land Titling and Litigation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(1), pages 131-156.
    2. Jørgen Juel Andersen & Frode Martin Nordvik & Andrea Tesei, 2022. "Oil Price Shocks and Conflict Escalation: Onshore versus Offshore," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 66(2), pages 327-356, February.
    3. repec:cte:whrepe:32377 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Stefano Falcone & Michele Rosenberg, 2022. "Agricultural Modernization and Land Conflict," Working Papers 1314, Barcelona School of Economics.
    5. Basco, Sergi & Domènech, Jordi & Maravall, Laura, 2023. "Land reform and rural conflict. Evidence from 1930s Spain," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Shinde, Nilesh N. & Do Valle, Stella Z. Schons & Maia, Alexandre Gori & Amacher, Gregory S., 2022. "Can an environmental policy contribute to the reduction of land conflict? Evidence from the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) in the Brazilian Amazon," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322584, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Konstantin Chatziathanasiou & Svenja Hippel & Michael Kurschilgen, 2020. "Property, Redistribution, and the Status Quo," Munich Papers in Political Economy 02, Munich School of Politics and Public Policy and the School of Management at the Technical University of Munich.
    8. Albuquerque Sant'Anna, André & Costa, Lucas, 2021. "Environmental regulation and bail outs under weak state capacity: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon11The authors gratefully acknowledge Antonio Ambrózio, Juliano Assunção, Arthur Bragança, Filipe ," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    9. Mueller, Bernardo, 2022. "Property rights and violence in indigenous land in Brazil," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    10. Moreno-Louzada, Luca & Menezes-Filho, Naercio, 2024. "Technical change in agriculture and homicides: The case of genetically-modified soy seeds in Brazil," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    11. Oliver Vanden Eynde, 2015. "Mining Royalties and Incentives for Security Operations: Evidence from India's Red Corridor," Working Papers halshs-01245496, HAL.
    12. Bragança, Arthur & Dahis, Ricardo, 2022. "Cutting special interests by the roots: Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    13. Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Deininger, Klaus & Mahofa, Godfrey & Nyakulama, Rhona, 2021. "Sustaining land registration benefits by addressing the challenges of reversion to informality in Rwanda," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    14. Leila Pereira & Rafael Pucci, 2024. "A Tale of Gold and Blood: The Consequences of Market Deregulation on Local Violence," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2024_18, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    15. Konstantin Chatziathanasiou & Svenja Hippel & Michael Kurschilgen, 2021. "Property, redistribution, and the status quo: a laboratory study," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 24(3), pages 919-951, September.
    16. Pereira, Leila & Pucci, Rafael & Soares, Rodrigo R., 2024. "Landing on Water: Air Interdiction, Drug-Trafficking Displacement, and Violence in the Brazilian Amazon," IZA Discussion Papers 17425, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Lucas Marín Llanes & Mauricio Velásquez & María Alejandra Vélez, 2022. "Land restitution and selective violence: Evidence from Colombia," Documentos CEDE 20144, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    18. Hufschmidt, Patrick & Ume, Chukwuma Otum, 2023. "Conflicts and political intervention: Evidence from the anti-open grazing laws in Nigeria," Ruhr Economic Papers 1009, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    19. J rgen Juel Andersen & Frode Martin Nordvik & Andrea Tesei, 2017. "Oil and Civil Conflict: On and Off (Shore)," Working Papers No 1/2017, Centre for Applied Macro- and Petroleum economics (CAMP), BI Norwegian Business School.
    20. John Gibson, 2020. "Deforestation and Resource Conflicts in Papua New Guinea," Working Papers in Economics 20/02, University of Waikato.
    21. Yamasaki, Junichi, 2020. "Time horizon of government and public goods investment: Evidence from Japan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).

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