IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/6293.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does sharecropping affect productivity and long-term investment ? evidence from West Bengal's tenancy reforms

Author

Listed:
  • Deininger, Klaus
  • Jin, Songqing
  • Yadav, Vandana

Abstract

Although transfer of agricultural land ownership through land reform had positive impacts on productivity, investment, and political empowerment in many cases, institutional arrangements in West Bengal -- which made tenancy heritable and imposed a prohibition on subleasing -- imply that early land reform benefits may not be sustained and gains from this policy remain well below potential. Data from a listing of 96,000 households in 200 villages, complemented by a detailed survey of 1,800 owner-cum tenants, point toward binding policy constraints and large contemporaneous inefficiency of share tenancy that is exacerbated by strong disincentives to investment. A conservative estimate puts the efficiency losses from such arrangements in any period at 25 percent.

Suggested Citation

  • Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing & Yadav, Vandana, 2012. "Does sharecropping affect productivity and long-term investment ? evidence from West Bengal's tenancy reforms," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6293, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6293
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2012/12/12/000158349_20121212144649/Rendered/PDF/wps6293.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ghatak, Maitreesh & Pandey, Priyanka, 2000. "Contract choice in agriculture with joint moral hazard in effort and risk," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 303-326, December.
    2. G.K. Lieten, 1996. "Land Reforms at Centre Stage: The Evidence on West Bengal," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 27(1), pages 111-130, January.
    3. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1998. "New ways of looking at old issues: inequality and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 259-287.
    4. Nathan Nunn, 2009. "The Importance of History for Economic Development," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 65-92, May.
    5. Bardhan, Pranab & Mookherjee, Dilip & Kumar, Neha, 2012. "State-led or market-led green revolution? Role of private irrigation investment vis-a-vis local government programs in West Bengal's farm productivity growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 222-235.
    6. World Bank, 2007. "India - Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction," World Bank Publications - Reports 7818, The World Bank Group.
    7. Honore, Bo E, 1992. "Trimmed LAD and Least Squares Estimation of Truncated and Censored Regression Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(3), pages 533-565, May.
    8. K. Deininger & S. Jin & H. K. Nagarajan, 2009. "Land Reforms, Poverty Reduction, and Economic Growth: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 496-521.
    9. Lanjouw, Jean Olson, 1999. "Information and the operation of markets: tests based on a general equilibrium model of land leasing in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 497-527, December.
    10. Hanan G. Jacoby & Ghazala Mansuri, 2008. "Land Tenancy and Non-Contractible Investment in Rural Pakistan," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 75(3), pages 763-788.
    11. Timothy Besley & Robin Burgess, 2000. "Land Reform, Poverty Reduction, and Growth: Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(2), pages 389-430.
    12. Nugent, Jeffrey B. & Robinson, James A., 2010. "Are factor endowments fate?," Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 45-82, March.
    13. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Mohamed Salah Matoussi, 1995. "Moral Hazard, Financial Constraints and Sharecropping in El Oulja," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(3), pages 381-399.
    14. Binswanger, Hans P. & Deininger, Klaus & Feder, Gershon, 1995. "Power, distortions, revolt and reform in agricultural land relations," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 42, pages 2659-2772, Elsevier.
    15. Jean-Marie Baland & James A. Robinson, 2008. "Land and Power: Theory and Evidence from Chile," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1737-1765, December.
    16. Banerjee, Abhijit V. & Ghatak, Maitreesh, 2004. "Eviction threats and investment incentives," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 469-488, August.
    17. Dilip Mookherjee, 1997. "Informational Rents and Property Rights in Land," International Economic Association Series, in: John E. Roemer (ed.), Property Relations, Incentives and Welfare, chapter 1, pages 3-42, Palgrave Macmillan.
    18. Otsuka, Keijiro & Chuma, Hiroyuki & Hayami, Yujiro, 1992. "Land and Labor Contracts in Agrarian Economies: Theories and Facts," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 1965-2018, December.
    19. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Paul J. Gertler & Maitreesh Ghatak, 2002. "Empowerment and Efficiency: Tenancy Reform in West Bengal," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(2), pages 239-280, April.
    20. Jacoby, Hanan G. & Mansuri, Ghazala, 2009. "Incentives, supervision, and sharecropper productivity," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 232-241, March.
    21. Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing & Nagarajan, Hari K., 2008. "Efficiency and equity impacts of rural land rental restrictions: Evidence from India," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(5), pages 892-918, July.
    22. Raul V. Fabella, 2003. "The comprehensive agrarian reform program and Coase theorem," Philippine Review of Economics, University of the Philippines School of Economics and Philippine Economic Society, vol. 40(1), pages 109-200, June.
    23. World Bank, 2007. "India : Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15791.
    24. Abhijit Banerjee & Lakshmi Iyer, 2005. "History, Institutions, and Economic Performance: The Legacy of Colonial Land Tenure Systems in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1190-1213, September.
    25. Gary D. Libecap & Dean Lueck, 2011. "The Demarcation of Land and the Role of Coordinating Property Institutions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(3), pages 426-467.
    26. Otsuka, Keijiro & Hayami, Yujiro, 1988. "Theories of Share Tenancy: A Critical Survey," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(1), pages 31-68, October.
    27. Carter, Michael R. & Zimmerman, Frederick J., 2000. "The dynamic cost and persistence of asset inequality in an agrarian economy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 265-302, December.
    28. Dubois, Pierre, 2002. "Moral hazard, land fertility and sharecropping in a rural area of the Philippines," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 35-64, June.
    29. Seiichi Fukui, 1997. "The Meaning of Kinship in Sharecropping Contracts," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(2), pages 394-406.
    30. Jean-Louis ARCAND & Mbolatiana DE MONTALEMBERT RAMBONILAZA, 1999. "Is Adverse Selection Relevant? Spence-Mirlees Meets the Tunisian Peasant," Working Papers 199923, CERDI.
    31. Tridip Ray, 2005. "Sharecropping, Land Exploitation And Land‐Improving Investments," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 56(2), pages 127-143, June.
    32. Rawal, Vikas, 2001. "Agrarian Reform and Land Markets: A Study of Land Transactions in Two Villages of West Bengal, 1977-1995," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(3), pages 611-629, April.
    33. Sanjaya DeSilva, 2000. "Skills, Partnerships and Tenancy in Sri Lankan Rice Farms," Working Papers 819, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    34. Pranab Bardhan, 1993. "Economics of Development and the Development of Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 129-142, Spring.
    35. Pranab Bardhan, 2009. "State-Led or Market-Led Green Revolution? Role of Private Irrigation Investment vis-a-vis Local Government Programs in West Bengal’s Farm Productivity Growth," Working Papers id:2209, eSocialSciences.
    36. Ananish Chaudhuri & Pushkar Maitra, 2001. "Tenant characteristics and the choice of tenurial contracts in rural India," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(2), pages 169-181.
    37. Shaban, Radwan Ali, 1987. "Testing between Competing Models of Sharecropping," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(5), pages 893-920, October.
    38. Bardhan, Pranab, 1999. "Institutions, Governance and Political Economy of Development: Some Reflections," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 8(0), pages 149-167, December.
    39. John E. Roemer (ed.), 1997. "Property Relations, Incentives and Welfare," International Economic Association Series, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-25287-9, December.
    40. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson, 2005. "Unbundling Institutions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(5), pages 949-995, October.
    41. Klaus Deininger & Daniel Ayalew Ali, 2008. "Do Overlapping Land Rights Reduce Agricultural Investment? Evidence from Uganda," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(4), pages 869-882.
    42. Lakshmi Iyer, 2010. "Direct versus Indirect Colonial Rule in India: Long-Term Consequences," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 693-713, November.
    43. Naritomi, Joana & Soares, Rodrigo R. & Assunção, Juliano J., 2012. "Institutional Development and Colonial Heritage within Brazil," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(2), pages 393-422, May.
    44. Maitreesh Ghatak & Sanchari Roy, 2007. "Land reform and agricultural productivity in India: a review of the evidence," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 23(2), pages 251-269, Summer.
    45. Shetty, Sudhir, 1988. "Limited liability, wealth differences and tenancy contracts in agrarian economies," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-22, July.
    46. Scott Rozelle & Johan F.M. Swinnen, 2004. "Success and Failure of Reform: Insights from the Transition of Agriculture," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(2), pages 404-456, June.
    47. DeSilva, S., 2000. "Skills, Partnerships and Tenancy in Sri Lankan Rice Farms," Papers 819, Yale - Economic Growth Center.
    48. Pranab Bardhan & Dilip Mookherjee, 2010. "Determinants of Redistributive Politics: An Empirical Analysis of Land Reforms in West Bengal, India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1572-1600, September.
    49. Feder, Gershon, 1985. "The relation between farm size and farm productivity : The role of family labor, supervision and credit constraints," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2-3), pages 297-313, August.
    50. Johan F. M. Swinnen, 1999. "The political economy of land reform choices in Central and Eastern Europe," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 7(3), pages 637-664, November.
    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. Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt & Mohanraj Adhikari, 2016. "From sharecropping to crop-rent: women farmers changing agricultural production relations in rural South Asia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(4), pages 997-1010, December.

    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. Jin, Songqing & Deininger, Klaus, 2009. "Land rental markets in the process of rural structural transformation: Productivity and equity impacts from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 629-646, December.
    2. Klaus W. Deininger & Songqing Jin & Vandana Yadav, 2011. "Long-term Effects of Land Reform on Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from West Bengal," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2011-082, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Deininger, Klaus & Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Alemu, Tekie, 2011. "Productivity effects of land rental markets in Ethiopia : Evidence from a matched tenant-landlord sample," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5727, The World Bank.
    4. Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing, 2007. "Land rental markets in the process of rural structural transformation : productivity and equity impacts in China," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4454, The World Bank.
    5. Klaus Deininger & Daniel Ayalew Ali & Tekie Alemu, 2008. "Assessing the Functioning of Land Rental Markets in Ethiopia," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(1), pages 67-100, October.
    6. World Bank, 2007. "India - Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction," World Bank Publications - Reports 7818, The World Bank Group.
    7. Oriana Bandiera, 1999. "On the Structure of Tenancy contracts: Theory and Evidence fron 19th Century Rural Sicily," STICERD - Development Economics Papers - From 2008 this series has been superseded by Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Papers 19, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    8. Jacoby, Hanan G. & Mansuri, Ghazala, 2009. "Incentives, supervision, and sharecropper productivity," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 232-241, March.
    9. Deininger, Klaus & Yadav, Vandana, 2011. "Long-term Effects of Land Reform on Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from West Bengal," WIDER Working Paper Series 082, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Klaus Deininger & Songqing Jin, 2008. "Land Sales and Rental Markets in Transition: Evidence from Rural Vietnam," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(1), pages 67-101, February.
    11. K. Deininger & S. Jin & H. K. Nagarajan, 2009. "Land Reforms, Poverty Reduction, and Economic Growth: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 496-521.
    12. Konrad B Burchardi & Selim Gulesci & Benedetta Lerva & Munshi Sulaiman, 2019. "Moral Hazard: Experimental Evidence from Tenancy Contracts," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(1), pages 281-347.
    13. Jin, Songqing & Deininger, Klaus W. & Nagarajan, Hari K., 2006. "Equity and efficiency impacts of rural land rental restrictions: Evidence from India," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21305, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    14. Pranab Bardhan & Dilip Mookherjee, 2007. "Land Reform And Farm Productivity In West Bengal," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-163, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    15. Deininger, Klaus & Hilhorst, Thea & Songwe, Vera, 2014. "Identifying and addressing land governance constraints to support intensification and land market operation: Evidence from 10 African countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 76-87.
    16. Deininger, Klaus W. & Jin, Songqing & Yadav, Vandana, 2008. "Impact of Land Reform on Productivity, Land Value and Human Capital Investment: Household Level Evidence from West Bengal," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6277, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    17. Rabah Arezki & Klaus Deininger & Harris Selod, 2015. "What Drives the Global "Land Rush"?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(2), pages 207-233.
    18. Bardhan, Pranab & Luca, Michael & Mookherjee, Dilip & Pino, Francisco, 2014. "Evolution of land distribution in West Bengal 1967–2004: Role of land reform and demographic changes," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 171-190.
    19. Marijn A. Bolhuis & Swapnika R. Rachapalli & Diego Restuccia, 2021. "Misallocation in Indian Agriculture," NBER Working Papers 29363, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Besley, Timothy & Leight, Jessica & Pande, Rohini & Rao, Vijayendra, 2016. "Long-run impacts of land regulation: Evidence from tenancy reform in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 72-87.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political Economy; Labor Policies; Economic Theory&Research; Debt Markets; Municipal Housing and Land;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:wbk:wbrwps:6293. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    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.