Poverty Linkages to Productive Efficiency and Access to Land

Two competing issues, 'efficiency' and 'equity', are offered in the literature to support land reform as an effective strategy to alleviate poverty. This book attempts to deal with both of these issues. Using parametric SDF model and nonparametric DEA model, this book empirically investigates how redistributive land reform might improve agricultural productive efficiency. Using GAM and OLS procedure, it also explores how access to land might reduce poverty. The key finding of this study is that land reform can only fulfil both the efficiency and equity objectives with certain conditions. An effective implementation of judicious land reform can alleviate poverty by increasing productive efficiency and access to land for the poor. A redistributive land reform policy, accompanied by development of selected leading industries, with comparative and competitive advantages, can significantly stimulate economic growth and alleviate poverty and inequality. This book should be useful to policy makers and students of development and agricultural economics, and it can have a wide application in many developing countries.