Copyright (c) 2008 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/karol_boudreaux Recent documents in Karol C. Boudreaux en-us Fri, 11 Jan 2008 01:55:17 PST 3600 http://works.bepress.com/karol_boudreaux/16 http://works.bepress.com/karol_boudreaux/16 Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:45:03 PST The Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor was created in 2005 to promote the empowerment of the world's poor with broader, more effective legal protections, in particular, with secure rights to property. Secure property rights are widely seen as a vital tool in efforts to alleviate poverty throughout the developing world. Secure property rights help prevent forcible evictions, reduce insecurity, give the poor an asset that can be put to more efficient use, and they help protect women from the predatory behavior of traditional authorities and relatives. One component of the drive to empower the poor with secure property rights has been property titling programs. Titling programs in the developing world are designed to shift legal title to a piece of real property from the property's previous owner (oftentimes, the national government) to poor occupants. Titling programs became a popular public policy in some developing countries thanks to the work of Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto. In his 2000 book, The Mystery of Capital, de Soto argues that the poor, who typically do not have a legal title to the property they occupy, hold "dead capital" that cannot be leveraged effectively to build or grow a business, to educate children or to pursue other entrepreneurial opportunities. Formalizing property ownership rights through titles would, de Soto argued, help to transform dead capital into living, useful assets for the poor.This study, based on field work conducted in South Africa, examines the effects of a property-titling program in one South African township: Langa Township. The study finds that creating secure property rights via titles has shifted incentives among township residents. Residents expend time and effort maintaining and improving their homes, once they have a title. These efforts may help increase the value of residents' homes. However, due to high transaction costs associated with property transfers and due to a variety of institutional weaknesses in South Africa, residents have made very limited of their titles as collateral for commercial loans. Property titling may be a useful step in the direction of legal empowerment of the poor--particularly in urban settings--however, complementary institutional reforms are needed to accomplish the Commission's goal of giving all citizens "a legitimate stake in the economy." Karol C. Boudreaux Economics Land Use Planning Law and Society Property-Personal and Real http://works.bepress.com/karol_boudreaux/15 http://works.bepress.com/karol_boudreaux/15 Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:55:06 PST Sub-Saharan Africa has received billions of dollars in foreign aid over the last fifty years yet economic development has remained elusive. In many countries absolute poverty has increased and life expectancy has declined.This monograph argues that the results of traditional approaches to development policy have been disappointing. Instead, the focus needs to be on the adoption of sound political and legal institutions. In particular, clearly defined and enforced private property rights are needed to encourage entrepreneurship and economic growth. However, institutional environments in Africa are both complex and challenging, and the creation of secure property rights is far from a straightforward process.The monograph examines several case studies of property rights reform in the developing world and suggests that universal policies applied without regard to local culture and tradition tends to fail. Reforms are more likely to succeed when they evolve gradually and are tailored to, or reflective of, local norms and values rather than imposed from above by governments, aid agencies and supranational institutions. Karol C. Boudreaux International Development Natural Resources Law Property Rights