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De Facto and De Jure Property Rights: Land Settlement and Land Conflict on the Australian, Brazilian and U.S. Frontiers

Author

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  • Lee J. Alston
  • Edwyna Harris
  • Bernardo Mueller
Abstract
We present a general model of the interaction between settlement and the emergence of de facto property rights on frontiers prior to governments establishing and enforcing de jure property rights. Settlers have an incentive to establish de facto property rights to avoid the dissipation associated with open access conditions. The potential rent associated with more exclusivity drives the “demand’ for commons arrangements. As the potential rental stream from land increases due to enhanced scarcity there is a greater demand for more exclusivity beyond what can be sustained with commons arrangements. In some instances claimants will petition the government for de jure property rights to their claims – formal titles. In other instances it may be cheaper to acquire titles through fraudulent means. To the extent that governments supply property rights to those with first possession, land conflict will generally be minimal, though there may be political protests. But, governments face differing political constituencies and may not allocate de jure rights to the current claimants. Moreover, governments may assign de jure rights but not be willing to enforce the rights. This may generate potential or actual conflict over land depending on the violence potentials held by the de facto and de jure land claimants. We examine land settlement and land conflict on the frontiers of Australia, the U.S. and Brazil. We are particularly interested in examining the emergence, sustainability, and collapse of commons arrangements in specific historical contexts. Our analysis indicates that the emergence of demand driven de facto property rights arrangements was relatively peaceful in Australia and the U.S. where claimants had reasons to organize collectively. The settlement process in Brazil was more prone to conflict because agriculture required fewer collective activities and as a result claimants resorted to periodic violent self-enforcement. In all three cases the movement from de facto to de jure property rights led to potential or actual conflict because of insufficient government enforcement.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee J. Alston & Edwyna Harris & Bernardo Mueller, 2009. "De Facto and De Jure Property Rights: Land Settlement and Land Conflict on the Australian, Brazilian and U.S. Frontiers," CEPR Discussion Papers 607, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    • Handle: RePEc:auu:dpaper:607
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    3. Alston Lee J. & Mueller Bernardo, 2018. "Priests, Conflicts and Property Rights: the Impacts on Tenancy and Land Use in Brazil," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-26, June.
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    5. Lawson-Remer, Terra, 2011. "Security of Property Rights for Whom?," WIDER Working Paper Series 083, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Graça, Carolina Torres & Zylbersztajn, Decio, 2019. "Land Rights Protection in the Pulp and Paper Production System," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 10(05), December.
    7. Shinde, Nilesh N. & Do Valle, Stella Z. Schons & Maia, Alexandre Gori & Amacher, Gregory S., 2022. "Can an environmental policy contribute to the reduction of land conflict? Evidence from the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) in the Brazilian Amazon," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322584, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Lee J. Alston & Bernardo Mueller, 2010. "Property Rights, Land Conflict and Tenancy in Brazil," NBER Working Papers 15771, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Brightman Gebremichael, 2017. "Heartrending or Uplifting: The Ethiopian Urban Land Tenure System Reform and Its Reflection on Tenure Security of Permit Holders," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 33(3), pages 291-310, September.
    10. Gabriel Hoh Teck Ling & Pau Chung Leng & Chin Siong Ho, 2019. "Effects of Diverse Property Rights on Rural Neighbourhood Public Open Space (POS) Governance: Evidence from Sabah, Malaysia," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-33, June.
    11. Lucas Marín Llanes & Mauricio Velásquez & María Alejandra Vélez, 2022. "Land restitution and selective violence: Evidence from Colombia," Documentos CEDE 20144, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    12. Alan Dye & Sumner La Croix, 2012. "The Political Economy of Land Privatization in Argentina and Australia, 1810-1850," Working Papers 201207, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    13. Gerard Russo & Jaclyn R.K. Lindo & Sang-Hyop Lee & Rui Wang & Thamana Lekprichakul & Abdul Jabbar, 2012. "The Impact of State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Expansion on Health Insurance Coverage in Hawaii," Working Papers 201208, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    14. Terra Lawson-Remer, 2011. "Security of Property Rights for Whom?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2011-083, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Klümper, Frederike & Theesfeld, Insa & Herzfeld, Thomas, 2018. "Discrepancies between paper and practice in policy implementation: Tajikistan’s property rights and customary claims to land and water," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 327-339.
    16. Lawson-Remer Terra, 2013. "Property Insecurity and Conflict," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 131-160, August.
    17. Alhola, Sara & Gwaindepi, Abel, 2024. "Land tenure formalisation and perceived tenure security: Two decades of the land administration project in Ghana," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    18. Jacek Lewkowicz & Katarzyna Metelska-Szaniawska, 2016. "De jure and de facto institutions – disentangling the interrelationships," Working Papers 2016-29, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    property rights; Australia; Brazil; United States;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • N40 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • N50 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • K11 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Property Law

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