Colonial Rule and the Power of Chiefs over Land Resources
研究殖民统治如何影响酋长对土地资源的权力，发现英国殖民统治下的英语国家酋长在土地分配上比法语国家酋长拥有更大权威，且这一效应随间接统治强度和后殖民国家对酋长制的正式承认而增强。
Property rights over land—a pivotal asset in developing countries—exhibit significant variations across economies. Nonetheless, the causes for such variations remain open empirical questions. We focus on colonial rule, as Africa’s colonial history suggests that British rule may have entrenched the power of chiefs over land resources. Using micro-data, we find that chiefs in anglophone countries have greater authority in land allocation than their francophone counterparts. This result holds across various specifications, including discontinuity analysis focusing on observations near anglophone–francophone borders. This effect increases with the intensity of British indirect rule and with the formal recognition of chieftaincy by postcolonial states. The findings highlight the enduring impact of colonial rule on contemporary land institutions.