Partial Land Rights and Agricultural Outcomes: Evidence from Thailand

To disentangle the issue concerning which dimensions of land rights, among security, tradability, and pledgeability, affect agricultural outcomes, this paper exploits a unique partial land rights entitlement program in Thailand that guarantees only security, allows a limited access to credit, and prohibits any land sale. Based on an instrumental variables strategy, I find that the entitlement increases (1) second-rice but not major-rice productivity, (2) land use intensity, and (3) land-related investment, and leads to (4) better soil quality. This suggests that the security dimension, alone, can play an important role in improving farm activities.