Abstract:
Thill.search analyses hypotheses .aboutiAdividualization oflandrightSt theemergenee
of rural laadmarkets~ &Ad the effects of Iud matket operation on households' access to
· walland in meal USanda as population cIoasityand commercial opportunities in
a ' .e • __. t8esa derived hal ecooomiG theory have been
adv ·10 advocateBationalpo11eioa·offormal iadividualization of land.rights·in several
African countlies. However, p.rior to this research, they remained largely untested empirically.
T dissertation -el.ops a three-stage model of rural African land market evolution
using coOOQpts m aeo-classicaland institutional economic theories. Population density,
commercialization of ulture, and 1aDd tenure·rules are hypothesized to bemstrumental
variables am· individualization of I.andrigbts and the em ce and operation of land
markets.