Customary Land Conversion and the Formation of the African City
As cities grow and spatially expand, agricultural land is converted into residential land. In many developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, this process is accompanied by a change in land tenure, whereby plots held under traditional...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/184281584971290852/Customary-Land-Conversion-and-the-Formation-of-the-African-City http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33484 |
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okr-10986-334842022-09-20T00:13:07Z Customary Land Conversion and the Formation of the African City Picard, Pierre M. Selod, Harris URBANIZATION LAND MARKET PROPERTY RIGHTS MARKET FAILURE As cities grow and spatially expand, agricultural land is converted into residential land. In many developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, this process is accompanied by a change in land tenure, whereby plots held under traditional customary arrangements are sold to new urban residents, possibly with formal property rights. This paper studies joint land-use and land-tenure conversion in an urban economics model in which intermediaries purchase agricultural land from customary owners and attempt to transform it into residential plots with statutory property rights. The spatial equilibrium includes a mix of land uses and rights where statutory and non-statutory residential plots coexist with customary land that is mainly used for agriculture. Because customary ownership is subject to uncertainty (because of tenure insecurity), the conversion process includes a potential information asymmetry between customary owners and intermediaries. The analysis shows that a market failure may emerge whereby some customary owners prefer to continue farming their land rather than participate in the urban residential land market, which results in a city that is too small. Empirical analysis using Malian data validates the key features of the model captured by land price gradients, as well as the ranking and the variance of land prices, and is suggestive of the presence of information asymmetry. 2020-03-26T14:19:40Z 2020-03-26T14:19:40Z 2020-03 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/184281584971290852/Customary-Land-Conversion-and-the-Formation-of-the-African-City http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33484 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9192 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Mali |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
URBANIZATION LAND MARKET PROPERTY RIGHTS MARKET FAILURE |
| spellingShingle |
URBANIZATION LAND MARKET PROPERTY RIGHTS MARKET FAILURE Picard, Pierre M. Selod, Harris Customary Land Conversion and the Formation of the African City |
| geographic_facet |
Africa Mali |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9192 |
| description |
As cities grow and spatially expand,
agricultural land is converted into residential land. In
many developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa,
this process is accompanied by a change in land tenure,
whereby plots held under traditional customary arrangements
are sold to new urban residents, possibly with formal
property rights. This paper studies joint land-use and
land-tenure conversion in an urban economics model in which
intermediaries purchase agricultural land from customary
owners and attempt to transform it into residential plots
with statutory property rights. The spatial equilibrium
includes a mix of land uses and rights where statutory and
non-statutory residential plots coexist with customary land
that is mainly used for agriculture. Because customary
ownership is subject to uncertainty (because of tenure
insecurity), the conversion process includes a potential
information asymmetry between customary owners and
intermediaries. The analysis shows that a market failure may
emerge whereby some customary owners prefer to continue
farming their land rather than participate in the urban
residential land market, which results in a city that is too
small. Empirical analysis using Malian data validates the
key features of the model captured by land price gradients,
as well as the ranking and the variance of land prices, and
is suggestive of the presence of information asymmetry. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Picard, Pierre M. Selod, Harris |
| author_facet |
Picard, Pierre M. Selod, Harris |
| author_sort |
Picard, Pierre M. |
| title |
Customary Land Conversion and the Formation of the African City |
| title_short |
Customary Land Conversion and the Formation of the African City |
| title_full |
Customary Land Conversion and the Formation of the African City |
| title_fullStr |
Customary Land Conversion and the Formation of the African City |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Customary Land Conversion and the Formation of the African City |
| title_sort |
customary land conversion and the formation of the african city |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2020 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/184281584971290852/Customary-Land-Conversion-and-the-Formation-of-the-African-City http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33484 |
| _version_ |
1764478862786297856 |