Do Formal Institutions Drive Land Security? Evidence from a Micro-Level Analysis in Ghana

Sammanfattning: The need for land security continues to be urgent for economic development in Africa. Central governments are implementing large-scale land reforms, yet the effects of land title formalisation are still not thoroughly understood. The growing evidence by macro-level empirical studies of the importance of property rights has not been sufficient for understanding the factors that determine property right security within countries. Facing the variety of consequences of formalisation and the increasing attention on local institutions, this paper contributes by disentangling the question of formalisation through providing micro-level evidence of the linkages between land title formality and land security. By utilising household data from Ghana, I find that a formal land title improves the owner’s rights to transfer land. However, this relationship is heavily dependent on the regional characteristics. Although formalisation holds potential in gaining wider land security, the results imply that land reforms must be designed conditional to efficiencies of the local systems.