Quasi-experimental evidence on the impact of land regularization: Urban and rural findings from Mozambique
Heather Huntington, Christina Seybolt, Kate Marple-Cantrell
Titling and formalization efforts in developing countries are expected to strengthen tenure security. Current scholarship suggests cautious support for a potential incentivizing role of stronger tenure security in promoting investments and economic growth. However, there are large and important gaps in the empirical literature. Given mixed results, a small number of experimental designs, and the limited geographic scope of rigorous impact evaluations, there is a clear need for additional systematic empirical work. This study uses household panel data, land administration data, and qualitative data to investigate the impact of a land formalization intervention in Mozambique. The primary objective of the intervention was to improve tenure security with the goal of stimulating investment and land markets in order to reduce poverty and spur economic growth in the long run. This paper expands the substance and methodologies of land sector research. It analyzes both urban and rural sites, an extended exposure period, moves beyond household surveys, includes a wives/spousal module, and triangulates data sources. The research applies a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences design with matching to explore mechanisms, outcomes and sustainability. We focus on differential treatment effects across a range of subgroups. As endline data was collected five years after the completion of the intervention, we are uniquely poised to present empirical findings from a medium to long term treatment exposure period.
Event: World Bank Land Conference 2024 - Washington
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