Property rights, factor allocation and household welfare: Experimental evidence from a land titling program in India
通过随机实验，研究印度农民获得正式土地所有权对农业投资、生产率和家庭福利的影响，发现确权能提高农业产出和利润，并通过保障租佃安全和抵押效应释放家庭劳动力。
Increasing evidence shows the significance of de jure land ownership in determining agricultural productivity, yet the causal evidence of the effectiveness of land rights is scarce. We leverage experimental variation induced by nudging Indian farmers to obtain formal land titles. We find that titling increases agricultural investments, crop productivity, and paddy profits. We identify the tenancy security as the potential channel for impact from titling on the labour market and collateral effect for higher investment. Farmers respond to titling by releasing locked-in family labour, and those who obtain land titles make welfare gains and recover the full cost of titling.