The determinants and impact of property rights: Land titles on the Brazilian frontier

This article provides new empirical results regarding the demand for and supply of title, the impact of title on land value, and its effects on agricultural investment on Brazilian frontiers. We present survey data from 1992 and 1993 from the state of Para on the characteristics of the settlers, land tenure, land agencies involved, land values, and investment. We also present data from the Brazilian agricultural censuses from 1940 through 1985, with observations at the municipio (county) level to examine the development of property rights to land in the southern state of Parana during the agricultural boom between 1940 and 1970 and in the Amazon state of Para during the period of rapid migration to the region after 1970. Examining property rights in frontier regions allows us to follow the rise in land values with movement toward a market center, the associated increase in demand for title, and the response of government to those demands. The empirical findings generally support our predictions regarding the effects of title and investment on land value; the role of expected change in value in increasing demand for title; and the contribution of title in promoting land-specific investment. Our results address both broad questions of institutional change and narrower issues of economic development.