Property rights in land reform areas

Land redistribution or the transfer of ownership rights to the tiller has been the focal point of the land reform program in the Philippines. This transfer was envisioned to result in a significant shift in income and productivity in the agrarian sector. While some equalisation of incomes may have indeed occurred, the full benefits of this asset transfer, however, have not been realised. This Policy Note suggests that the reason might be due to the fact that ill-defined land rights brought about by regulatory and bureaucratic impediments have rendered such lands as practically "dead capital/asset." The roots of this property rights problem are traced in this paper.