Addressing Unequal Economic Opportunities : A Case Study of Land Tenure in Ghana

The author examine this relationship in
the context of agriculture in Ghana's Eastern Region.
Our work traces the connection from a set of complex and
explicitly negotiable property rights over land to
agricultural investment and, in turn, to agricultural
productivity. Using survey and focus group data, we find
that while the land tenure institutions may have some
benefits, they result in drastically lower productivity for
those not connected to the political hierarchy. This paper
discusses the following topics: land transactions and land
rights, land tenure is a political process, and a safety net
of sorts.