Showing papers on "Leasehold estate published in 2007"

Do overlapping property rights reduce agricultural investment ? evidence from Uganda

Abstract: The need for land-related investment to ensure sustainable land management and increase productivity of land use is widely recognized. However, there is little rigorous evidence on the effects of property rights for increasing agricultural productivity and contributing toward poverty reduction in Africa. Whether and by how much overlapping property rights reduce investment incentives, and the scope for policies to counter such disincentives, are thus important policy issues. Using information on parcels under ownership and usufruct by the same household from a nationally representative survey in Uganda, the authors find significant disincentives associated with overlapping property rights on short and long-term investments. The paper combines this result with information on crop productivity to obtain a rough estimate of the magnitudes involved. The authors make suggestions on ways to eliminate such inefficiencies.

Chapter 51 Efficiency and Equity Effects of Land Markets

Abstract: It is widely believed that land markets, including both land sales and tenancy markets, are neither efficient nor conducive to social equity It is often argued that tenants, particularly share tenants, do not have proper incentives to work and invest, partly because of the disincentive effects of output sharing and partly because of the tenure insecurity It is also widely accepted that land sales transactions tend to exacerbate the social equity and rural poverty by facilitating the concentration of land ownership by hands of a few wealthy landlords Based on these presumptions, land reform programs have been implemented in a number of developing countries This article critically reviews these presumptions both theoretically and empirically Firstly, we identify why land tenancy transaction is more common than land sales transactions and why share tenancy is more common than leasehold tenancy Secondly, we critically review the theories of share tenancy, tenure security, and adjustment costs of farm size Thirdly, we empirically review the efficiency and equity effects of land markets as well as the impacts of conventional land reform programs It has become clear from the literature review that land reform polices have generally failed to improve land use efficiency and social equity It is also found that tenancy contracts, including share tenancy, are generally efficient and conducive to social justice In conclusion, we propose to encourage tenancy transactions, in general, and share tenancy, in particular

Land reform and agricultural productivity in India: a review of the evidence

Abstract: In this paper we review as well as contribute to the empirical literature on the impact of land reform on agricultural productivity in India. We find that, overall for all states, land-reform legislation had a negative and significant effect on agricultural productivity. However, this hides considerable variation across types of land reform, as well as variation across states. Decomposing by type of land reform, the main driver for this negative effect seems to be land-ceiling legislation. In contrast, the effect of tenancy reform, averaged across all states, is insignificant. There seems to be a wide range of state-specific effects, which suggests that focusing on average treatment effects can hide a considerable amount of heterogeneity. In particular, allowing a separate slope for West Bengal, one of the few states that implemented tenancy laws rigorously, we find that land reform had a marginal positive effect relative to the rest of India.

Efficiency and Equity Effects of Land Markets

Abstract: It is widely believed that land markets, including both land sales and tenancy markets, are neither efficient nor conducive to social equity. It is often argued that tenants, particularly share tenants, do not have proper incentives to work and invest, partly because of the disincentive effects of output sharing and partly because of the tenure insecurity. It is also widely accepted that land sales transactions tend to exacerbate the social equity and rural poverty by facilitating the concentration of land ownership by hands of a few wealthy landlords. Based on these presumptions, land reform programs have been implemented in a number of developing countries. This article critically reviews these presumptions both theoretically and empirically. Firstly, we identify why land tenancy transaction is more common than land sales transactions and why share tenancy is more common than leasehold tenancy. Secondly, we critically review the theories of share tenancy, tenure security, and adjustment costs of farm size. Thirdly, we empirically review the efficiency and equity effects of land markets as well as the impacts of conventional land reform programs. It has become clear from the literature review that land reform polices have generally failed to improve land use efficiency and social equity. It is also found that tenancy contracts, including share tenancy, are generally efficient and conducive to social justice. In conclusion, we propose to encourage tenancy transactions, in general, and share tenancy, in particular.

Land Tenure, Investment Incentives, and the Choice of Techniques: Evidence from Nicaragua

Abstract: The choice of cultivation techniques is a key determinant of agricultural productivity and has important consequences for income growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. Household data from Nicaragua are used to show that the choice of cultivation technique depends on farmers' tenure status even when techniques are observable and contractible. In particular, tree crops are less likely to be grown on rented than on owner-cultivated plots. Further evidence indicates that the result follows from landlords’ inability or unwillingness to commit to long-term tenancy contracts rather than from agency costs due to risk aversion or limited liability.

Outside the autochthon-migrant configuration: access to land, land conflicts and inter-ethnic relationships in a former pioneer area of lower Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract: This paper discusses land issues in a specific Ivorian context: that of a former no man's land located in lower Cote d'Ivoire. In this region, one does not find the autochthon-migrant dichotomy that generally structures the land issue in southern Cote d'Ivoire. This situation therefore offers an opportunity to document the conditions of access to land and inter-ethnic relationships in a situation characterised by the lack of autochthonous stakeholders. In this context, land rights and land transfers have been moulded by the interplay between migration flows, the dynamics of the smallholder plantation economy, and the rise of land markets. The picture that results is a patchwork, in terms of ethnic land control, where land rights are quite secure. The crucial land issue arises from the active land lease market, with a large acreage of land rented out to Burkinabe pineapple producers – again, without major conflicts. This situation is contrasted with the neighbouring Aboure country, where a conflict over tenancy practices arose in 2001.

Tenure Choice in the Housing Market Psychological Versus Economic Factors

Abstract: The author conducted a survey to examine psychological and economic factors affecting the homeownership–tenancy choice. Among the many results, the author found disturbing evidence according to which there exists a fundamental flawed reasoning in the common judgment of the financial superiority of ownership over tenancy. Most important, however, the author finds that although psychological and economic factors involved in the tenure decision are highly correlated, the psychological factors are found to be more statistically significant in explaining the realized tenure mode. This, in turn, may suggest that psychological effects might act as the underlying forces for determining the apparent economic tenure decision.

The incidence of land tenure insecurity in Southern Africa: Policy implications for sustainable development

Abstract: The study presented in this article used a combination of key informant interviews and a review and synthesis of existing country level literature to identify the major sources of land tenure insecurity in six Southern African countries: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zambia Findings reveal that the main causes of land tenure insecurity experienced in Southern Africa include lack of land rights of minority groups, unclear or overlapping land rights, overcrowding, land alienation into leasehold, insecurity of farm workers and farm labour tenants, inappropriate and exploitative administrative practices, land encroachment and illegal settlers and limited women's land rights The article presents a summary of land tenure security related initiatives that the study countries have or are in the process of adopting Analysis of these initiatives shows that tenure reforms have focused on changing the law and rules but little has been done to translate new laws into implementable programs; capacity building; prioritization of resources to support tenure reform; provision of complementary policies and incentives; addressing HIV/AIDS-land tenure related problems; and monitoring and evaluation The paper contends that these policy issues should be addressed in order to ensure realization of land tenure security for all

Land reform and farm productivity in west bengal 1

Abstract: We revisit the classical question of productivity implications of sharecropping tenancy, in the context of tenancy reforms (Operation Barga) in West Bengal, India studied previously by Banerjee, Gertler and Ghatak (JPE 2002). We utilize a disaggregated farm panel, controlling for other land reforms, agriculture input supply services, infrastructure spending of local governments, and potential endogeneity of land reform implementation. We continue to find significant positive effects of lagged village tenancy registration rates. But the direct effects on tenant farms are overshadowed by spillover effects on non-tenant farms. The effects of tenancy reform are also dominated by those of input supply programs and irrigation expenditures of local governments. These results indicate the effects of the tenancy reform cannot be interpreted as reduction of Marshall-Mill sharecropping distortions alone; village-wide impacts of land reforms and agricultural input supply programs administered by local governments deserve greater attention.

Land use and land reform in former Central and East European countries

Abstract: The importance of agriculture is decreasing all over the world. The aim of the paper is to compare the ownership structure and land use in some selected former Central and Eastern European countries. The property structure and land use is in dichotomy, the production is performed simultaneously on small-size farms which produce primarily for self-consumption. The importance of farm land leases is increasing. The present paper tries to identify the main differences and similarities in land ownership and property structure, the changes in the last fifteen years, what happened and whether the expectations had been met. Furthermore the paper compares the main regulations of land ownership and tenancy in different countries, explains land market protection, and the need of a real valuation system of land. Key words : property structure, land prices, land use, land use and ownership Introduction The role and importance of agriculture has decreased within the national economy in Central and Eastern European countries. Although the agriculture was different before the social-economic transition in Hungary, Slovak Republic, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, following the integration into the European Union, similarities can be found in the role of agriculture in these countries. The property structure and land use can be characterized by dichotomy that is the large and middle-scale farms, which provide the major portion of commercial agricultural production, operate simultaneously with small-size farms which produce primarily for self-consumption. The importance of farm land leases is increasing and the rate of tenancy is growing. Agricultural land prices were gradually increasing in the examined countries during the past decade, but in general they remain below the level of farm land prices in the EU-15 countries. Prior to the EU accession it was expected that agricultural land would be cultivated mostly by owners. However, these expectations have not been met and a large number of agricultural land owners are interested in land sale or lease, and they are withdrawing completely from farming. The increased interest in land sales or lease will influence the leasing conditions, including the annual rent. Moreover, changes in leasing conditions will change the profitability of agriculture. We compare the main characteristics of land tenure and land use in selected countries according to the observed trends in other European countries. Before the social-economic transition, agriculture had important role in the national economy in the new EU member states. (Table 1.)

Poor-Focused Common Forest Management: Lessons from Leasehold Forestry in Nepal

Abstract: p>In Nepal, the poor-focused Leasehold Forestry Programme (LHFP) is taken as an important programme to halt forest degradation and address poverty. This paper aims to analyse the policies and practices of the LHFP and identify lessons with regard to when, how and under what conditions the programme can benefit the poorer sections of the community. Our analysis shows that provisioning pro-poor forest policies has served as a good starter towards poverty reduction, but several dimensions need to be considered to maximise benefits and services for poor households. Such dimensions include: appropriate implementation mechanisms are instituted and local institutions promoted; community-level deliberations take place to maximise benefits for the poor; good condition forests are handed over to the poor to enhance their access to forest-based products; the programme works with multiple programmes and partners to address poverty on a fuller scale to go beyond the current level of involvement of few development sectors. Key words: leasehold forestry, pro-poor, poverty reduction Full text is available at the ForestAction website Journal of Forest and Livelihood 6(2) September 2007 pp.20-29

Comparative urban institutions and intertemporal externality: a revisit of the Coase conjecture

Abstract: Coase originally formulated his conjecture about intertemporal price competition in the context of a land market, but it has been applied almost exclusively to non-spatial markets. This paper revisits the Coase Conjecture in the context of land development and urban institutions. I compare four institutional arrangements based on the combination of land tenure options and local governance forms: private/rental, public/rental, private/owner and public/owner. The two-period model developed in this paper shows that homeownership may result in more land development than leasehold. Numeric examples suggest (1) public/owner, i.e., the common form of government providing collective goods, may be efficient for more uniform distribution of consumer; (2) rentals can be desirable for “poor” communities; (3) private/owner, such as CID (Common Interest Development) and condominium, is more efficient for “rich” communities; (4) restrictive zoning reduces social surplus, and “rich” community may adopt more restrictive measures. These results may help explain why public institutions are dominant in urban setting and why most private communities are small and located in the suburbs.

Inequity In Equity: The Tragedy of Tenancy in Common for Heirs' Property Onwers Facing Partition in Equity

Abstract: This article considers the impact of the default intestacy estate of tenancy in common on African-American heirs' property This piece considers the evolution of the heirs' property conundrum in the Lowcountry of South Carolina - the birthplace of the dream of African-American land ownership - and explores the implications of this form of property ownership in tenants in common facing partition in courts of equity, particularly in developing Sunbelt communities Comprehensive property law reform is crtically needed I propose a new legal framework to better regulate the externalities that plague the commons of heirs' property and achieve more equitable results in actions to partition heirs' property Specifically, courts of equity should take affirmative steps to better manage the economics of partition actions so that external costs are appropriately assessed and valuations accurately compensate partitioning co-tenants who hold fractionated interests These steps would ameliorate the distorted economics that make partition actions so attractive to developers who benefit from the exploitation of heirs' property In addition, I consider a recent line of state supreme court cases that utilized alternative partition remedies to preserve sentimental and historic family homesteads These cases offer a sound legal theory that can stand and should be applied in the heirs' property context Finally, I offer concrete legislative reform proposals that will enable legislators and judges to provide more equitable consideration of partition actions, thereby preserving the historic land legacy of African-Americans

Negotiating Office Lease Contracts: From a Game-Theoretical Towards A Behavioural View

Abstract: At its core the profitability of every tenancy agreement is determined by a negotiation about the provisions of the lease contract. A profound knowledge about the mechanisms of this strategic decision situation and the decision making behavior of the participants can help landlords, tenants and brokers to close the deal and enforce their interests against their counterparts in order to derive an optimum utility from the tenancy. The paper aims at modelling a game-theoretical framework that covers the basic mechanisms of lease contract negotiations while making allowance for relevant behavioral aspects. In this way a systematic examination of these bargaining processes is conducted and recommendations for landlords, tenants, and brokers are given. For this purpose the work initially demonstrates that tenancy contract negotiations show characteristics of a conflict with competitive as well as cooperative interests that with respect to general assumptions of game theory can be modelled, analysed and solved as a basic non-cooperative game situation. In the following a game-theoretical model is developed based on the simple bi-matrix normal form and the Rubinstein bargaining game while successively approximating real estate practice. The behavioristic model of the zone of possible agreement is integrated and several behavioral aspects of decision-making in negotiations are considered. In the course of this paper several mechanisms and interdependences of lease contract negotiations are uncovered and recommendations for landlords, tenants and brokers are derived.

Risk-assessment practices in the private rental sector: implications for low-income renters

Abstract: This Positioning Paper provides the context, sets out the theoretical framework and outlines the research strategy underpinning a study into the factors influencing risk-assessment and tenancy allocation practices used by property managers in the private rental market The study builds on previous research demonstrating that a relatively large proportion of low-cost private rental accommodation is occupied by moderate- to high-income households (Seelig 2001a; Wulff and Yates 2001; Yates et al 2004) However, this is occurring in an environment where the private rental sector is now the de facto main provider of rental housing for lower-income households across Australia (Seelig et al 2005a) The following research questions will be addressed: What factors are taken into account by real estate agents in their assessment of risks entailed in the allocation of rental tenancies to different categories of tenants? What procedures (qualitative and/or quantitative) do real estate agents use to evaluate risks at the point of allocation of tenancies? Do real estate agents attach greater risk to low-income renters? If so, what aspects of low-income status are perceived, by real estate agents, to constitute risks in rental tenancies? What factors are perceived, by real estate agents, to mitigate any specific risks arising from or associated with tenants’ low-income status? What role might the processes of risk-assessment in the private rental sector play in shaping the movements of low-income households within the rental sector? The policy context of this study acknowledges that risk-assessment and tenancy allocation practices are rooted in the broader structural and behavioural patterns of the private rental market as a whole, and are linked to the ways in which landlord–tenant relations are defined in social, economic and legislative terms The role of the private rental sector in housing lower-income households, the provision of direct State housing assistance to private renters, and private rental sector policy provide the contextual markers that are relevant to this study The underlying research strategy proposed for the project involves taking an institutional ethnographic approach (Smith 1987), a realist method of enquiry that takes everyday, experiential knowledge as evidence of the workings of wider social (institutional) structures The focus of enquiry, in this instance, is the institution of the private rental market Individual and group in-depth semi-structured interviews will be undertaken with property agents in selected localities in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia A small number of tenant advocates and community-housing providers will also be interviewed to complement the interviews with the property agents Phase 1 has involved the trialling and confirmation of the interview strategy to be used in Phase 2 of the study The researchers aim to identify and describe: Factors that real estate agents take into account in assessing the 'risks' in allocating affordable housing to low-income households Routine practices and formalised procedures employed, at the point of allocation, to evaluate relative risks and potential trade-offs in the allocation of low-cost housing Likely outcomes for low-income householders of real estate agents’ risk-assessment practices, under different market conditions Factors or specific arrangements perceived by real estate agents to mitigate or reduce risks associated with low-income status of tenants and increase tenants’ capacity to obtain affordable housing in the private rental sector Potential impact of risk-assessment and related practices upon housing pathways of low-income tenants seeking affordable housing in the private rental sector Thus, the research will suggest directions for developing strategic policies to address factors linked to low-income status that are understood to constitute 'risks' in private rental, and are likely to preclude or limit low-income householders’ access to affordable housing in the private rental sector

Regional differences regarding land tenancy in rural rwanda, with special reference to sharecropping in a coffee production area

Abstract: This paper examines land tenancy systems and tenant contracts in Rwanda, with respect to socioeconomic contexts. Our research in southern and eastern Rwanda produced data suggesting that land borrowing with fixed rents has been generally practiced, and that rent levels have been low in comparison to expected revenues from field production. In the western areas of coffee production, however, the practice of sharecropping has recently appeared. This system is advantageous to landowners, as they are able to acquire half of the harvests; in addition, the fixed rent levels in this region are much higher than those of other regions. In the southern and eastern regions, because land borrowing with fixed rents has been the only tenancy pattern and rent levels have remained low, the economic situation should be interpreted in the context of a continuing traditional Rwandan land tenure system. In contrast, in the western coffee production area, the soaring of fixed rents and the emergence of sharecropping have been brought about by high pressures for land use, which were caused not only by a population increase but also by the development of cash crop production and the existence of a labor exchange system. The increase in rent levels has therefore been offset by a corresponding increase in agricultural productivity.

Landlord and Tenant Law in Context

Abstract: PART ONE: INTRODUCING THE RELATIONSHIP 1 Introduction to Landlord and Tenant Law 1.1 Understanding Leases in Context 1.2 The Language of Leases 1.3 The Variety of Letting Arrangements 1.4 Key Issues and Trends in the Different Sectors 1.5 Explaining the Structure of the Book 1.6 Some more Terminology on Leases 2 Keys to Understanding Leases 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Leases in a Map of the Law 2.3 The Hybrid Nature of Leases: Part Property, Part Contract 2.4 The Private Law Relationship and the Common Law 2.5 Landlord and Tenant Law as Regulatory Law 2.6 The Public Law Dimension 2.7 Leases and Land 2.8 Leases as Split-ownership 2.9 Intervention in the Landlord and Tenant Relationship 2.10 Interpretation of Leases and Leasehold Notices PART TWO: ENTERING THE RELATIONSHIP 3 Identifying Leasehold Relationships 3.1 The Essential Elements of a Lease 3.2 Different Categories of Occupation 3.3 Categorising a Relationship 4 Entering the Tenancy: Allocation, Formalities and Content 4.1 Allocation and Choice 4.2 Formalities on Entering into the Landlord and Tenant Relationship 4.3 The Effect of Non-observance of the Formality Requirements 4.4 Vitiating Factors and Leases 4.5 Construction and Rectification 4.6 Providing Information to Tenants 4.7 The Structure of Leases 4.8 Fairness and Contract Terms 4.9 The Structure of Commercial Leases 4.10 The Structure of Residential Leases 4.11 Variation of Lease Terms PART THREE: REGULATING THE RELATIONSHIP The Structure of Part Three The Importance of Policy in the Wider Context What is Policy? Avoiding Statutory Protection 5 Renting Homes: The Policy Background 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Tenure Division 5.3 Social Renting and Private Renting 5.4 The Period to 1980 5.5 From 1980 Onwards 5.6 Current Housing Issues 5.7 Current Issues and Directions in the Different Tenures 5.8 Summary: Rented Housing in 2007 6 Renting Homes: Legislative Controls 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Legislative History of Housing Law 6.3 Allocation of Housing 6.4 The Housing Act 1988: The Private Rented Sector 6.5 The Housing Act 1985: Local Authorities and the Secure Tenancy 6.6 The Housing Association Sector 6.7 Statutory Control of Rented Homes 6.8 Future Directions 7 Long Residential Leases 7.1 The Reasons for Using Long Leases 7.2 Problems with Long Leasehold 7.3 The Case for Reform 7.4 Reform at Last 7.5 An Overview of Legislative Controls of Residential Long Leases 7.6 The Future? 8 Business Tenancies 8.1 Policy and Legislative History in the Commercial Property Sector 8.2 The Operation of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, Part II 8.3 Tenancies to which Part II of the 1954 Act applies 8.4 Future Directions 9 Agricultural Tenancies 9.1 Policy and Legislative History in the Agricultural Sector 9.2 Farm Business Tenancies 9.3 The Impact of the ATA 1995 9.4 Future Directions 10 Human Rights in Landlord and Tenant Law 10.1 Introduction: Human Rights 10.2 Human Rights in Domestic Law 10.3 The Meaning of Public Authority 10.4 Interpreting Convention Rights 10.5 The Convention Rights 10.6 Interpretation of Legislation 10.7 International Rights to Housing PART FOUR: MANAGING THE RELATIONSHIP 11 Managing the Leasehold Relationship 11.1 What is Management? 11.2 Management and Disability Legislation 11.3 Leasehold Estate Management 11.4 Management and Long Residential Leasehold 11.5 Managing Anti-social Behaviour 11.6 Landlords and Third Parties 11.7 Ensuring Effective Management 11.8 Disputes 12 Repair and Maintenance 12.1 Introduction: Standards and Repair 12.2 The State of Tenanted Housing 12.3 Ensuring Good Standards in Rented Property 12.4 The Duty to Repair 12.5 Regulatory Controls 12.6 Beyond Landlord and Tenant Law 12.7 Enforcing Repairing Obligations 12.8 Landlord's Remedies for Breach of Tenant's Repairing Covenant 12.9 Tenant's Remedies for Breach of Landlord's Repairing Covenant 12.10 Improvements and Alterations 13 Using, Insuring and Servicing Tenanted Property 13.1 Introduction 13.2 User 13.3 Insurance 13.4 Service Charges 14 Rent 14.1 Introduction 14.2 Setting the Rent 14.3 Fixing Initial Rent Levels 15 Residential Rents 15.1 Setting Rents in the Social Sector 15.2 Rent Control 15.3 Ensuring Affordability through Welfare Payments 15.4 The Tolerated Trespasser and Payment for Occupation 16 Varying the Rent and Ensuring Payment 16.1 Introduction 16.2 Variation of the Rent during a Tenancy 16.3 Overpaying the Rent 16.4 Ensuring Payment 16.5 Remedies for Non-payment 16.6 Cesser of Rent PART FIVE: CHANGING THE PARTIES TO THE RELATIONSHIP 17 Alienation, Transfer and Succession 17.1 General Introduction 17.2 Change of Tenant 17.3 Obtaining Consent 17.4 Covenants against Alienation 17.5 Alienation Covenants in Particular Sectors 17.6 Disposition in Breach of an Ali

Resource use efficiency on own and sharecropped plots in Northern Ethiopia: Determinants and implications for sustainability

Abstract: This study analyses the level of resource use efficiency achieved by tenant households on their own and on sharecropped-in plots, and the determinants of the levels of efficiency achieved. Using plot-level and location data from Tigray, northern Ethiopia, it assesses whether tenancy status affects technical efficiency. Stochastic frontier production function analysis results show that a statistically significant level of technical inefficiency exists in the production system, but this was not found significantly associated with the tenancy status of the plot, controlling for other factors. Technical efficiency was found to have significantly positive association with livestock endowments of the tenant household and the population density of the location. As this study is based on cross-sectional data, a comprehensive study - based on a dynamic setting - is critical to assessing the cumulative effect of land contracting on long-term productivity and sustainability of land use.

Land Tenure in Zimbabwe's Post Agrarian Reform

Abstract: SUMMARY Zimbabwe has embarked on a massive land redistribution programme which has resulted in thousands of hectares of land being unalienated by the state using the Land Acquisition Act. The Act empowers the government to compulsorily acquire land for redistribution to the landless indigenous people. A massive cadastral surveying exercise is currently being undertaken to subdivide the acquired farms into smaller A2 models units. The resultant diagrams and general plans of the subdivisions will be annexed to the 99 year lease documents. This paper attempts to analyze the 99 year leasehold tenure system as it pertains to Zimbabwe in the post agrarian reform programme. The paper will focus on the lease registration process, the surveying requirements and security of tenure issues (mortgages, transferability, and collateral).

Discourses on Poverty Reduction from Forestry in Nepal: A Shift from Community to Household Approach? 1

Abstract: Policies, practices, and discourses on forest management in developing countries have largely concentrated on shifting property rights from the state to community regimes. The “state to community” approach has often been glorified as a panacea to poverty reduction in national and global development frameworks such as gross domestic product and contribution to Millennium Development Goals, which have essentially overlooked the issue of livelihood justice at the household level from the “relative poverty” perspective. These frameworks, which focus on average incomes at the country level irrespective of variance between rich and the poor households and gender injustice even at the intrahousehold level, have often been insensitive to understanding the significance of natural, human, social, physical, and emotional livelihood outcomes to poorer households and the intrahousehold level. In Nepal, some recent initiatives look at how the poorer households can claim and demand community-level spheres of decision making, and gain equitable access to resource bases, rights, and other benefits. Such initiatives are emerging under different communitybased forest modalities, notably in leasehold forestry (LHF) and community forestry. LHF was initiated in the early 1990s targeting at least in principle the poor households as the beneficiaries, excluding nonpoor households. Community forestry, although originally based on the broader community as the beneficiaries regardless of well-being status, has also started, at least at a token scale, providing opportunities to poorer households. Major propoor innovations in community forestry include, but are not limited to: allocation of forest patches for the poorest households, their involvement in enterprises and microfinance activities, and development and enforcement of household–community agreement to include the poor in forest users’ executive committees. This paper examines the inadequacy of the prevailing community approach to reducing poverty from forestry and highlights the shift to the household approach for equitable poverty-reduction outcomes. The paper discusses the roles of critical civil society agents, the learning-oriented practices of development projects, ongoing social inclusion movements, and weakening feudal production relations as the enabling factors of the initiatives. Despite being a noble concept, the household approach to pro-poor forestry innovations has not gained momentum in Nepal, and it is still unclear whether poorer households can continue to expand their claim to rights, resources, and benefits from communal resource governance. We conclude that high transaction costs, the recentralizing tendency of the Government, and inadequate policy–legal frameworks need to be analyzed to understand why the pro-poor initiative has not been expedited.

Negotiating Office Lease Contracts: From a Game-Theoretical Towards A Behavioural View

Abstract: At its core the profitability of every tenancy agreement is determined by a negotiation about the provisions of the lease contract. A profound knowledge about the mechanisms of this strategic decision situation and the decision making behavior of the participants can help landlords, tenants and brokers to close the deal and enforce their interests against their counterparts in order to derive an optimum utility from the tenancy. The paper aims at modelling a game-theoretical framework that covers the basic mechanisms of lease contract negotiations while making allowance for relevant behavioral aspects. In this way a systematic examination of these bargaining processes is conducted and recommendations for landlords, tenants, and brokers are given. For this purpose the work initially demonstrates that tenancy contract negotiations show characteristics of a conflict with competitive as well as cooperative interests that with respect to general assumptions of game theory can be modelled, analysed and solved as a basic non-cooperative game situation. In the following a game-theoretical model is developed based on the simple bi-matrix normal form and the Rubinstein bargaining game while successively approximating real estate practice. The behavioristic model of the zone of possible agreement is integrated and several behavioral aspects of decision-making in negotiations are considered. In the course of this paper several mechanisms and interdependences of lease contract negotiations are uncovered and recommendations for landlords, tenants and brokers are derived.

Risk and Time in a Land Lease Economy

Abstract: SUMMARY In many transitional economies, public officials have been experimenting with public leasehold systems to minimize economic and political conflicts that arise from land reform. One hope is that leasing public land may lessen tension between communists’ (or socialist) desire to uphold public land ownership and reformists’ demand for increasing private property rights. This paper is the author’s summary of “Leasing Public Land, Policy Debates and International Experiences” , Lincoln Institute of Land Policy 2003, which discusses and compares land leasing experiences from around the world. The paper begins with a set of charts showing the major features of public land leasing for a select group of countries around the world. Then the author will present some lessons learned from these international experiences, as well as common themes found across the varied land leasing systems of the world. This paper will conclude with a narrative discussion of these systems and their history of public land leasing, and will include some of the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the systems and how they changed over time.

Real-estate lease support system

Abstract: PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a real-estate lease support system for allowing a tenant and a real-estate company to systematically take procedures including a search for a leasehold property, contract, move-in process, rent payment, and a renewal/move-out process in a credit-card-based secure Web environment so as to provide rational rent guarantee that cannot be achieved by the conventional system of deposit and a cosigner. SOLUTION: A card network integrating means using a center server connected by a network to single terminals installed in a plurality of card companies on one hand and in a plurality of real-estate companies on the other hand is provided. The center server includes a property investigation system for investigating and accumulating property information; a property search system for disclosing and searching for the property information and providing answers; a charge collection support system including a contract registering means for registering information about contracts with tenants, a tenant investigating means for investigating the credit of each tenant, a card settlement integrating means for performing integrated withdrawal of rents, a CTI demand and collection means, and a charge subrogation payment means using the guarantee charges of tenants as resources; and a renewal/move-out process system. COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Operation Barga, ‘Efficiency’ and (De)interlinkage in a Differentiated Structure of Tenancy in Rural West Bengal:

Abstract: Operation Barga in West Bengal caused a decline in the institution of tenancy over a period of two decades. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the field-level data shows that the tenant households are placed in a highly heterogeneous and differentiated manner in society, which is similar to that of the pattern of distribution of general (tenant plus non-tenant) households. We find that tenant households are less productive than the general category of households and, therefore, less efficient. The yield level of recorded tenant households is also distinctly higher than unrecorded tenant households. Recorded tenants are enjoying lower rental rate than unrecorded tenants. The possibility of interlinked transactions has been remote among tenant households.

Peasants, Political Economy, and Law

Abstract: In this collection written over a period of almost two decades, Peter Robb, an important historian of the Empire explores the connections between agrarian policy, revenue, and property law, and commercial production; the emergence of political identities. He investigates issues like economic development, tenancy acts, peasant stratification, 'capitalist' agriculture, and definitions of labour in relation to the British Empire.

An investigation of land subletting during Republican period on Chengdu Plain

Abstract: Subletting land was widely practiced throughout the Chinese countryside during the early 20th century. The various modes of land subletting in the Chengdu Plains during the Republican period included sharecropping, contracted tenancy and a large-tract tenancy system. The subletting caused many conflicts among tenants, like the transfer of tax liability, etc. The reasons why there were so many lands being leased out were: (1) The ecological pressure caused by a surplus of people with little available land. (2) The civil customs of subletting land and national laws opposed each other but also complemented each other. (3) Subletting land was a supplement of the tenancy system, and also an economic activity driven by interests.