Communal property and land markets: Agricultural development policy in St. Lucia

Communal land tenure in St. Lucia was targeted for privatization in 1986 on the premise that its undercapitalization and low productivity could be corrected by establishing an efficient land market. This article takes the neoclassical analysis which was used to support this policy to task. With empirical evidence from St. Lucia, it argues that the inefficiencies attributed to communal land only are not justified. Many of these inefficiencies are, in fact, also shared with freehold tenure. In addition, family land performs socioeconomic functions that cannot be achieved with freehold tenure and fulfills a critical function in the development process. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.