Collective property leads to household investments: Lessons from land titling in afro-colombian communities

In the developing world, after decades of strong rejection,collective land titling has become an important tool for recognizing thehistorical presence of ethnic communities and safeguarding their rightsto occupy and manage... [ view full abstract ]

In the developing world, after decades of strong rejection,
collective land titling has become an important tool for recognizing the
historical presence of ethnic communities and safeguarding their rights
to occupy and manage their territories. However, little is known about
the average impact of these titling processes on the well-being of these
communities. In this paper we attempt to estimate the impact of
collective land titling in territories inhabited by Afro-descendent
communities in Colombia. We compare rural districts in titled areas with
rural districts in untitled areas that are similar in all the relevant
observable characteristics. We find that the collective titling process
in the Chocó region has caused an increase in average household per
capita income, a decrease in extreme poverty, larger investments in
housing, higher attendance rates among children in primary education, and
a decrease in housing overcrowding. Our results suggest that collective
land titling creates a more secure natural resource base and a longer
time horizon for households in collective territories, which leads to
investment in their private physical and human capital.