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Many empirical studies find a partial negative effect of market integration on cooperation in traditional poor small-scale farmer communities in developing countries, blaming an erosion of collective action enhancing norms (Social Capital). This paper takes the empirical analysis one step further by estimating the effect on income. A survey on cooperation, institutions and income level was conducted by the author in 49 Peruvian highland communities in order to estimate a production function including Social Capital. None of the variables representing customary cooperation were significant in an econometric regression analysis, but various aspects of integration that can be interpreted to facilitate more modern forms of cooperation had a significant positive income effect. Communities resettling after the civil war draw on common organizational experience and emigrants represent a network to the modern society.The positive effect of the latter was significantly lower in communities with individual property rights to land. One possible explanation is the increasing tensions between emigrants and people in their communities of origin as the governmental land entitlement program proceeds. Communities with common property rights are not affected by the program and solve land disputes themselves in local assemblies.

Over six million people have been displaced in Colombia's ongoing armed conflict, mainly from rural to urban areas. In 2012, the Colombian government launched a large-scale social housing program to alleviate the housing deficit caused by conflict and furthermore compensate the IDPs for their losses. The principles of this initiative are in line with the wishes of most victim families, who prefer to stay in the cities to which they moved due to the conflict. The new apartments and houses are provided free of charge and are in high demand. That may help to explain the lack of success of another large-scale reparation program, land restitution, which promotes the return of displaced households to the countryside. Building on empirical qualitative field data, this article shows how the free housing program 'cements' the choice of displaced families to continue living in cities and further develop their post-conflict urban livelihoods and social networks, as opposed to returning to the depopulated rural areas and re-establishing agricultural activities. It is argued that those housing projects are not the ideal solution to the problems of housing shortage and poverty among the displaced population. ; acceptedVersion

Over six million people have been displaced in Colombia's ongoing armed conflict, mainly from rural to urban areas. In 2012, the Colombian government launched a large-scale social housing program to alleviate the housing deficit caused by conflict and furthermore compensate the IDPs for their losses. The principles of this initiative are in line with the wishes of most victim families, who prefer to stay in the cities to which they moved due to the conflict. The new apartments and houses are provided free of charge and are in high demand. That may help to explain the lack of success of another large-scale reparation program, land restitution, which promotes the return of displaced households to the countryside. Building on empirical qualitative field data, this article shows how the free housing program 'cements' the choice of displaced families to continue living in cities and further develop their post-conflict urban livelihoods and social networks, as opposed to returning to the depopulated rural areas and reestablishing agricultural activities. It is argued that those housing projects are not the ideal solution to the problems of housing shortage and poverty among the displaced population. ; acceptedVersion ; © 2016. This is the authors' accepted and refereed manuscript to the article. LOCKED until 18.4.2018 due to copyright restrictions. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Colombian Law 1448 of 2011, known as the Victims' Law, addresses the issue of internal displacement and land dispossession caused by the armed conflict. The law aims to help internally displaced people (IDPs) to a better life by restoring their rights to the dispossessed land, to formalize property rights, and to facilitate return. To achieve these aims, the Colombian government has put in place a nationwide programme of land restitution, which involves a comprehensive set of regulations, mechanisms and procedures bringing together a multiplicity of actors. Taking as the point of departure how the Victims' Law envisages the process, we contrast design with preliminary findings on current implementation. We find institutional overload, new conflicts on the ground, and unexpected prospects of return. ; This work was supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Peace and Reconciliation Unit. ; acceptedVersion

Based on government statistics and interviews with villagers across Malawi this article argues that customary matrilineal and patrilineal land tenure systems serve to weaken security of land tenure for some family members as well as obstructing the creation of gender-neutral inheritance of lands. Data from the National Census of Agriculture and Livestock 2007and the 2008 Population and Housing Census are used to characterize marriage systems and landholding patterns of local communities. Marriage systems correspond to customary land-tenure patterns of matrilineal or patrilineal cultures. The differences between the two ways of land holding represent a challenge for land reforms aimed at unifying rules for land tenure and land devolution. Drawing on an analogy of the resilience of the patrilineal land holding system in Norway, we argue that it will be difficult to remove the preferential rights of lineage members directly. We recommend that, instead of creating a unified national system, existing land rights should be formally recognized and circumscribed by fair procedures. A well-designed landholding system should aim to ease the transitions of diverse customary tenure systems towards the requirements of a modern large-scale society. ; publishedVersion

This paper is about land tenure relations among the matrilineal and patrilineal cultures in Malawi. Data from the National Agricultural and Livestock Census are used to characterize marriage systems and settlement and landholding patterns for local communities. Marriage systems correspond to customary land tenure patterns of matrilineal or patrilineal land holding. The differences between the two major ways of land holding represent a particular challenge for land reforms intending to unify rules for land tenure and land devolution. The paper discusses the problems of formalisation and the idea of maintaining the diversity. If diversity is not respected there is a chance that some sections of society, especially communities with matrilineal land holding, might be victims of formalization. Based on analogy of the resilience of the patrilineal land holding system in Norway it is argued that a democratic system will have difficulty removing the preferential rights of linage members and it is recommended that the existing land rights are formally recognized and circumscribed by fair procedures. In a situation of diversity one goal of a well-designed land holding system should be to ease the transitions of the diverse customary tenure systems towards systems adapted to the requirements of a modern large scale society rather than to a unified national system.

This paper is about land tenure relations among the matrilineal and patrilineal cultures in Malawi. Data from the National Agricultural and Livestock Census are used to characterize marriage systems and settlement and landholding patterns for local communities. Marriage systems correspond to customary land tenure patterns of matrilineal or patrilineal land holding. The differences between the two major ways of land holding represent a particular challenge for land reforms intending to unify rules for land tenure and land devolution. The paper discusses the problems of formalisation and the idea of maintaining the diversity. If diversity is not respected there is a chance that some sections of society, especially communities with matrilineal land holding, might be victims of formalization. Based on analogy of the resilience of the patrilineal land holding system in Norway it is argued that a democratic system will have difficulty removing the preferential rights of linage members and it is recommended that the existing land rights are formally recognized and circumscribed by fair procedures. In a situation of diversity one goal of a well-designed land holding system should be to ease the transitions of the diverse customary tenure systems towards systems adapted to the requirements of a modern large scale society rather than to a unified national system.

In this paper, a model of the nitrogen cycle in the soil is incorporated in a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model of the Tanzanian economy, thus establishing a two way link between the environment and the economy. For a given level of natural soil productivity, profit maximising farmers choose a production technique and the optimal production volume, which in turn influences the soil productivity the following years through the recycling of nitrogen from the residues of roots and stover and the degree of erosion. The model is used to simulate the effects of typical structural adjustment policies: a reduction in agro-chemicals subsidies, reduced implicit export tax rate, a devaluation of the currency, a cut in governmental expenditure and a reduction of foreign transfers. The result of a joint implementation is a 9 percent higher GDP level compared to the baseline scenario after 10 years. The effect of soil degradation is found to represent a reduction in the GDP level of more than 5 percent for the same time period.