Market and Nonmarket Transfers of Land in Ethiopia : Implications for Efficiency, Equity, and Nonfarm Development

The authors use data from Ethiopia to
empirically assess determinants of participation in land
rental markets, compare these to those of administrative
land reallocation, and make inferences on the likely impact
of households' expectations regarding future
redistribution. Results indicate that rental markets
outperform administrative reallocation in terms of
efficiency and poverty. Households who have part-time jobs
in the off-farm sector are significantly more likely to
expect land to be taken away from them through
administrative means. Eliminating the scope for
administrative land reallocation may thus be a precondition
for more vigorous development of the off-farm sector.