Adarkwah Antwi

Economic rationality and informal urban land transactions in Accra, Ghana

It has been argued for some time that the apparently haphazard development of neighbourhoods in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) cities is largely related to the plethora of informal land transactions, which typify many house and land buying purchasing decisions. The authors of this paper question this assertion and develop an alternative view of such purchasing decisions based upon the economics of property rights and the theory of bureaucracy. Using original data from Accra a number of models are developed to examine the implicit argument that urban transactions are typified by nonrational economic behaviour. It is concluded that the evidence points in exactly the opposite direction - that most (if not all) such transactions can be characterized in terms of fully rational economic behaviour and that the latter efficiently and effectively circumvents the bureaucracy, which exists to administer such transactions. It is also concluded that major reforms of the Land Administration system are required in order to enable market forces to more effectively operate whilst the regulatory regime itself needs to be adjusted in order to eliminate market failures which it itself has managed to create.

Measuring the impact of flooding on UK house prices: A new framework for small sample problems

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to show how the measurement of the effect of flooding on house value can be invaluable information for professional valuers and homeowners alike. In the UK, even for an event as devastating as the autumn 2000 flood, the number of properties affected in any one town is small and so robust estimation is problematic and methodology applied elsewhere needs modification. A new framework for analysing the effect of flooding on house value in the UK is presented.Design/methodology/approach – Data issues play a crucial role in determining the methodology employed in any analysis. A repeat sales methodology is proposed which allows for the tracking of effects through time. The analysis can be extended to multiple sites via a block design thereby increasing the sample size.Findings – Empirical analysis of one case study site demonstrates the inherent small sample problem and yet reveals patterns that fall in line with expected outcomes in many respects.Research limitations/...

The impact of flood insurance on residential property prices: Towards a new theoretical framework for the United Kingdom market

The supposition that the availability and cost of insurance will have an effect on house prices is often accepted as fact. However the mechanism for this supposed impact has not been clearly articulated and the hypothesis is far from proven in the UK market. Measurement of the effect of insurance is complicated by the fact that the parties are acting in the presence of incomplete information and that insurance costs can act as a proxy for other value drivers such as flood risk. Models useful in other countries cannot be applied sensibly to the UK market because of the unique properties of the UK insurance regime. Novel hypotheses are suggested for the three principal ways in which the availability and cost of insurance might influence the prospective property transfer. A method for testing one of these hypotheses is proposed using a quasi‐experimental approach with the aim of determining whether a relationship between insurance cost and house price does indeed exist.

Traditional landholding institutions and individual ownership of land rights in sub-Saharan Africa

As first level suppliers, land is vested in indigenous corporate bodies like clans/families, tribes and chiefs in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The corporate bodies are called traditional landholding institutions. This socio-political arrangement of landownership has, however, been described as communal landholding which does not permit individual ownership of land rights and this, it is argued, impedes economic development. This paper critically examines the customary land tenure systems and concludes that they are composite with communal as well as individual landownership akin to what obtains in England. Traditional landownership systems in SSA do not appear to constrain individual ownership of land rights.

Urban myth vs. economic explanation: an empirical analysis of land purchasing decisions in Accra

This paper reports the results of an analysis of market participants engaged in informal urban land transactions in Accra, Ghana. It has been occasioned by the dearth of empirical studies that shed light on commonly held beliefs that informal land transactions in sub-Saharan African cities account for many observed problems in their neighbourhoods. Employing regression and discriminant analyses, the paper finds as follows: informal transactions work remarkably well and obey the fundamental economic laws of demand and supply; claims that such transactions lead to high and escalating land prices are unfounded; claims concerning the charging of arbitrary prices by land suppliers are unfounded; government intervention through compulsory purchase leads to perverse outcomes. Unresolved title disputes, lack of registered title documents and the absence of reliable databases of ownership plague this particular market. The findings reveal that the argument that bureaucratic intervention offers a way out is misconceived. Market-led regulation emerges as the needed focus of future land policy and land management strategy.