This paper analyzes the functioning of land rental markets in the Dominican Republic using a new data set collected specifically to characterize the entire market. We analyze the choice of the landlords and the tenants in the search for the optimal partner. We show how insecure property rights leads to segmentation in the tenancy markets along socio-economic group and hence severely limits access to land for the rural poor.

Within the framework of decreasing support for agricultural incomes by market measures, the per-hectare premiums (ha-premiums) clearly have the task and the effect to stabilise farm incomes. Before direct aids were introduced, there had been periods with decreasing prices for agricultural land and for rented agricultural area in real terms, according to the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data base (specialised crop farms in 53 regions for 11 years) and EUROSTAT data (B, DK, D-W, F, NL in the period 1975 to 1999).

Land markets have received a considerable amount of attention in economic literature. Since the treatment of the topic covers various approaches, areas, and questions, it seems desirable to attempt an overview of the results. This paper devises a way in which to present a complete picture of the land market by drawing together the various contributions. The first step is to establish a method by which a market in its entirety can be defined. It is suggested that the application of Oliver Williamson's "Four levels of social analysis" is an appropriate approach to be used in this endeavour.