Do Limitations in Land Rights Transferability Influence Mobility Rates in Ethiopia?

Do Limitations in Land Rights Transferability Influence Mobility Rates in Ethiopia?

Author: 
de Brauw, Alan
Publisher: 
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date published: 
2012
Record type: 
Responsibility: 
Mueller, Valerie, jt. author
Journal Title: 
Journal of African Economies
Source: 
Journal of African Economies, Vol. 21, No. 4, August 2012, pp. 548-579
Abstract: 

Migration is considered a pathway out of poverty for many rural households in developing countries. National policies can discourage households from exploiting external employment opportunities through the distortion of capital markets. In this paper, we study whether a specific distortion, restrictions on land transferability, affects migration in Ethiopia. We find that when we broadly define migration, households with better land rights are slightly less likely to send out migrants. However, this finding does not hold when restricting the focus to employment migration. Although improved land transferability rights have a modest negative effect on migration, understanding the barriers to migration is of utmost importance given recent work that highlights the high earning potential in the non-agricultural sector in Ethiopia.

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CITATION: de Brauw, Alan. Do Limitations in Land Rights Transferability Influence Mobility Rates in Ethiopia? . : Oxford University Press (OUP) , 2012. Journal of African Economies, Vol. 21, No. 4, August 2012, pp. 548-579 - Available at: https://library.au.int/do-limitations-land-rights-transferability-influence-mobility-rates-ethiopia-3