An Assessment of Land Tenure Security on Haiti's Central Plateau: Implications for Farm-Level Investments

Abstract

This thesis provides an empirically based description of the de-facto character of land ownership in rural Haiti and empirically examines the consequences of land tenure structure on farm-level investment decisions. A randomly sampled, door-to-door survey was conducted between July and December 2013 in a remote region of central Haiti. My results indicate that both men and women view purchased land as relatively secure compared to inherited land. However, men and women differ considerably with respect to their expectations regarding their ability to use inherited land. Importantly, men and women appear to make very different land use decisions. Though the de jure law suggest these rights are equal, only 30 percent of women viewed their rights as secure compared to 80 percent of men. The information put forward in this thesis is critical to current policy efforts in Haiti which set out to assess and reform the existing land tenure system.