Land Research, Data, and Policy Insights

FEATURED RESEARCH

Land institutions and policies will be critical to help African countries respond to challenges of climate change, urban expansion, structural transformation, and gender equality. Together, they affect urban dwellers’ ability to access productive jobs, live in decent housing, and breathe clean air; farmers’ and women entrepreneurs’ capacity to insure against shocks, increase productivity, and diversify income sources; and governments’ ability to plan, tax property to provide services, and manage public land in a way that provides sustained local benefits by attracting investment, including via climate finance. Yet, many African land registries command little trust due to poor performance and wealth bias in service delivery.

Land Policies for Resilient and Equitable Growth in Africa draws on a wealth of data, examples, and studies from Africa and beyond to show that regulatory and institutional reforms can harness this potential by improving quality, coverage, usefulness, and sustainability of documented land rights. In doing so, these reforms create the informational foundation for sectoral policies to support job growth, structural transformation, and climate resilience.

Also see: Publication Website | Launch Event Recording (English) | Launch Event Recording (French)
 

World Bank Land Conference 2024: Research Track

The World Bank Land Conference 2024 took place May 13-17, 2024 at World Bank Headquarters in Washington, DC and is the premier forum for the land sector, bringing together participants from governments, development partners, civil society, academia, and the private sector to showcase good practice, discuss issues, and inform evidence-based policy dialogue. As part of this event, the Research Track featured innovative innovative research on all aspects of land governance and its links to shared economic growth, resilience, and poverty reduction. Recordings of sessions and many other event materials can be found on the Research Track website.

JOURNAL ARTICLES & WORKING PAPERS

Micro-Level Impacts of the War on Ukraine’s Agriculture Sector: Distinguishing Local and National Effects over Time
Klaus W Deininger, Daniel Ayalew Ali, Nataliia Kussul, Guido Lemoine, Andrii Shelestov
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10869, August 2024 

Outward and Upward Construction: A 3D Analysis of the Global Building Stock
Thomas Esch, Klaus Deininger, Remi Jedwab, Daniela Palacios-Lopez
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10866, August 2024

Misallocation or Measurement Error: Evidence on Vietnam's Agriculture
Tram Hoang, Songqing Jin, Klaus Deininger
32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists 2024

Land Policies and Institutions for Equitable and Resilient Growth in Africa
Klaus Deininger, Aparajita Goyal
The World Bank Research Observer, May 2024

Using registry data to assess gender-differentiated land and credit market effects of urban land policy reform: Evidence from Lesotho
Daniel Ayalew Ali, Klaus Deininger
World Development 175 (106478), March 2024

Assessing damage to agricultural fields from military actions in Ukraine: An integrated approach using statistical indicators and machine learning
Nataliia Kussul, Sofiia Drozd, Hanna Yailymova, Andrii Shelestov, Guido Lemoine, Klaus Deininger
International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, vol. 125, 103562, December 2023

Heterogenous climate impacts on crop yields: evidence from Ukraine
Ming Fang, Songqing Jin, Klaus Deininger, Matthew Gammans
Environmental Research Communications 5 (10), 105015

Impacts of a mandatory shift to decentralized online auctions on revenue from public land leases in Ukraine
Klaus Deininger, Daniel Ayalew Ali, Roman Neyter
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 213, 432-450

Impact of the Russian Invasion on Ukrainian Farmers’ Productivity, Rural Welfare, and Food Security
Klaus Deininger, Daniel Ayalew Ali, Ming Fang
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10464, May 2023

Land and Mortgage Markets in Ukraine
Klaus Deininger, Daniel Ayalew Ali
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10385, March 2023

Land Institutions to Address New Challenges in Africa
Klaus Deininger, Aparajita Goyal
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10389, March 2023

Quantifying war-induced crop losses in Ukraine in near real time to strengthen local and global food security
Klaus Deininger, Daniel Ayalew Ali, Nataliia Kussul, Andrii Shelestov, Guido Lemoine, Hanna Yailimova
Food Policy 115, 102418, February 2023

Labor market discrimination in Bangladesh: Experimental evidence from the job market of college graduates
Sibbir Ahmad, Songqing Jin, Veronique Theriault, Klaus Deininger
Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Conferences, 2023

Land-and Credit-Market Effects of Urban Land Titling: Evidence from Lesotho
Klaus Deininger, Daniel Ayalew Ali
Available at SSRN 4364288, February 2023

Structural transformation of the agricultural sector in low-and middle-income economies
Klaus Deininger, Songqing Jin, Meilin Ma
Annual Review of Resource Economics 14, 221-241, October 2022

Institutional determinants of large land-based investments’ performance in Zambia: Does title enhance productivity and structural transformation?
Daniel Ayalew Ali, Klaus Deininger
World Development 157, 105932, September 2022

How Urban Land Titling and Registry Reform Affect Land and Credit Markets: Evidence from Lesotho
Daniel Ayalew Ali, Klaus Deininger
The World Bank, May 2022

Biophysical Impact of Sunflower Crop Rotation on Agricultural Fields
Nataliia Kussul, Klaus Deininger, Leonid Shumilo, Mykola Lavreniuk, Daniel Ayalew Ali, Oleg Nivievskyi
Sustainability 14 (7), 3965, March 2022

Addressing Declining Female Labor Force Participation in India: Does Political Empowerment Make a Difference?
Klaus Deininger, Songqing Jin, Hari K Nagarajan, Sudhir K Singh
The Journal of Development Studies, 1-19, March 2022

Pronatal property rights over land and fertility outcomes: Evidence from a natural experiment in Ethiopia
Daniel Ayalew Ali, Klaus Deininger, Niels Kemper
The Journal of Development Studies, 1-17, January 2022

Impacts of Transparent Online Auctions on Public Land Lease Revenue
Klaus Deniniger, Daniel Ayalew Ali, Roman Neyter
World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022

Climate, land productivity and agricultural adaptation in Ukraine
Ming Fang, Songqing Jin, Klaus W Deininger
2022

Quantifying war-induced crop losses in Ukraine in near real time to strengthen local and global food security
Klaus Deininger, Daniel Ayalew Ali, Nataliia Kussul, Andrii Shelestov, Guido Lemoine, Hanna Yailimova
Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022

How Urban Land Titling and Registry Reform Affect Land and Credit Markets
Klaus Deininger, Daniel Ayalew Ali
World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022

Informal Land Markets and Ethnic Matching in Sub-Saharan African Cities
Lucie Letrouit, Harris Selod
Available at SSRN 4254838, 2022

Property Taxation in India: Issues Impacting Revenue Performance and Suggestions for Reform
Rajul Awasthi, Mohan Nagarajan, Klaus W. Deininger
Land Use Policy 110: 104539, November 2021 

Structural Transformation of the Agricultural Sector in Low- and Middle-Income Economies
Klaus Deininger, Songqing Jin, Meilin Ma
SSRN Electronic Journal, November 2021 | Annual Review of Resource Economics, Forthcoming

Sustaining Land Registration Benefits by Addressing the Challenges of Reversion to Informality in Rwanda
Daniel A. Ali, Klaus Deininger, Godfrey Mahofa, Rhona Nyakulama
Land Use Policy 110: 104317, November 2021

Does Title Increase Large Farm Productivity? Institutional Determinants of Large Land-Based Investments’ Performance in Zambia
Daniel Ayalew Ali, Klaus Deininger
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 9702, June 2021

Using Registry Data to Assess Gender-Differentiated Land and Credit Market Effects of Urban Land Policy Reform: Evidence from Lesotho
Daniel A. Ali, Klaus W. Deininger
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 9681, June 2021

Investment Impacts of Gendered Land Rights in Customary Tenure Systems: Substantive and Methodological Insights from Malawi
Klaus Deininger, Fang Xia, Talip Kilic, Heather Moylan
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 9520, January 2021

Political Reservation and Female Labor Force Participation in Rural India
Klaus Deininger, Songqing Jin, Hari K. Nagarajan, Sudhir K. Singh
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 9350, August 2020

Using Machine Learning to Assess Yield Impacts of Crop Rotation : Combining Satellite and Statistical Data for Ukraine
Klaus Deininger, Daniel Ayalew Ali, Nataliia Kussul, Mykola Lavreniuk, Oleg Nivievskyi
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 9806, August 2020

Labor Response to Agricultural Productivity Shocks in Developing Countries: Evidence from China
Klaus W. Deininger, Xuwen Gao, Songqing Jin, Chao Peng
Presentation at the 2020 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting, Kansas City, Missouri, July 26-28, 2020

Women's Political Leadership and Economic Empowerment: Evidence from Public Works in India
Klaus Deininger, Hari K. Nagarajan, Sudhir K Singha
Journal of Comparative Economics 48 (2): 277-291, June 2020

Targeting and the Impacts of India's MGNREGS
Christopher B. Barrett, Nancy H. Chau, Upasak Das, Klaus Deininger, Sara Gustafson, Sudha Narayanan, Megan Sheahan, Vidhya Soundararajan
International Food Policy Research Institute, Project Note, March 2020 

Using Satellite Imagery to Assess Impacts of Soil and Water Conservation Measures: Evidence from Ethiopia’s Tana-Beles Watershed
Daniel Ayalew Ali, Klaus Deininger, Daniel Monchuk
Ecological Economics 169: 106512, March 2020

Property Rights Reform to Support China’s Rural ‐ Urban Integration: Household‐Level Evidence from the Chengdu Experiment
Klaus Deininger, Songqing Jin, Shouying Liu, Fang Xia
Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 64 (1): 30–54, January 2020 

Personality Traits, Technology Adoption, and Technical Efficiency: Evidence from Smallholder Rice Farms in Ghana
Daniel Ayalew Ali, Derek Bowen, Klaus Deininger
The Journal of Development Studies 56 (7):1330-1348, September 2019

Using Satellite Imagery to Create Tax Maps and Enhance Local Revenue Collection
Daniel Ayalew Ali, Klaus Deininger, Michael Wild
Applied Economics 52 (4):415-429, August 2019

Making Secure Land Tenure Count for Global Development Goals and National Policy: Evidence from Zambia
Daniel Ayalew Ali, Klaus Deininger, Thea Hilhorst, Frank Kakungu, Yuanyuan Yi
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 8912, June 2019.

Does Large Farm Establishment Create Benefits for Neighboring Smallholders? Evidence from Ethiopia
Daniel Ayalew Ali, Klaus Deininger, Anthony Harris
Land Economics 95 (1):71–90, February 2019 | Brief

Heterogeneous Welfare Impacts of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: Evidence from Andhra Pradesh, India
Klaus Deininger and Yanyan Liu
World Development 117: 98-111, 2019.

Gendered Incidence and Impacts of Tenure Insecurity on Agricultural Performance in Malawi’s Customary Tenure System
Klaus Deininger, Fang Xia, Stein Holden
The Journal of Development Studies 55 (4): 597-619, 2019. 

More Working Papers & Journal Articles

Last Updated: Sep 26, 2024