TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Depetris-Chauvin, Emilio
AU  - Özak, Ömer
        TI  - (De Facto) Historical Ethnic Borders and Land Tenure in Sub-Saharan Africa
        PY  - 2023/Mar/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 16047
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp16047
        AB  - We study the role of proximity to historical ethnic borders in determining individual land ownership in Sub-Saharan Africa. Following an instrumental variable strategy, we document that individuals have a lower likelihood of owning land near historical ethnic borders. In particular, the likelihood of owning land decreases by 15 percentage points, i.e., about 1/3 of the mean rate of landownership, for rural migrants who move from 57km (90th percentile) to 2 km (10th percentile) from the border. This result aligns with the view that competition for land is stronger and property rights are weaker close to historical ethnic borders in Sub-Saharan Africa.
        KW  - Voronoi Tessellation
KW  - Africa
KW  - development
KW  - historical homelands
KW  - property rights
KW  - borders
KW  - land ownership
KW  - Thiessen Tessellation
        ER  -