Ellen Payongayong

Land tenure and the management of land and trees: the case of customary land tenure areas of Ghana

This study explores the effects of land tenure institutions on land use and management using household date from cocoa growing areas of Ghana. Various land tenure institutions with different land rights coexist in our sites, such as allocated family land, inherited land, appropriated village land, and land received as gift. While tree planting and the decision to leave land fallow may be affected by land tenure status, there are no significant differences in labor allocation and revenue of both cocoa and food crops among parcels under different land tenure institutions. These results support the hypothesis that management incentives of cocoa fields, but not food crop fields, tend to be equalized due to the incentive-enhancing effects of granting secure land rights after efforts to plant cocoa trees are expended.

Quantifying spillover effects from large farm establishments : the case of Mozambique

Almost a decade after large land-based investment for agriculture increased sharply, opinions on its impact continue to diverge, partly because (positive or negative) spillovers on neighboring smallholders have never been rigorously assessed. Applying methods from the urban literature on Mozambican data suggests that changes in the number and area of large farms within 25 or 50 kilometers of these investments raised use of improved practices, animal traction, and inputs by small farmers without increasing cultivated area or participation in output, credit, and nonfarm labor markets; or, once these factors are controlled for, yields. The limited scope and modest size of the estimated benefits point toward considerable unrealized potential. The paper discusses ways to systematically explore the size of such potential and the extent to which it is realized.

Measuring Hope: A Quantitative Approach with Validation in Rural Myanmar

ABSTRACT Development economists are increasingly considering the role of hope in behaviours relating to investment, production, and consumption decisions of the poor. Although several studies have examined how the concepts of hope and aspirations may fit into economic theories, empirical studies have yet to validate a reliable measurement of hope. We adapt a quantitative approach to measure hope in the context of rural Myanmar. We present three tests of measurement validity. This study finds that hope measurements are correlated with covariates in a way supported by theory, are distinct from other psychological concepts, and are positively correlated with welfare perceptions.