The Cost of Property Rights: Establishing Institutions on the Philippine Frontier Under American Rule, 1898-1918 / Noel Maurer, Lakshmi Iyer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Maurer, Noel.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Iyer, Lakshmi.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w14298.

NBER working paper series no. w14298

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

The Cost of Property Rights

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2008.

Summary:

We examine three reforms to property rights introduced by the United States in the Philippines in the early 20th century: the redistribution of large estates to their tenants, the creation of a system of secure land titles, and a homestead program to encourage cultivation of public lands. During the first phase of American occupation (1898-1918), we find that the progress of implementing these reforms was very slow. As a consequence, tenure insecurity increased over this period, and the distribution of farm sizes remained extremely unequal. We identify two primary causes for the slow progress of reform: first, the high cost of implementing these programs was a major factor in reducing take-up. On the other hand, the government was reluctant to evict delinquent or informal cultivators, especially on public lands. This reduced the costs of tenure insecurity. Political constraints prevented the government from subsidizing land reforms to a greater degree.

Notes:

Print version record

September 2008.