Agrarian reform in Venezuela
The land reform in Venezuela was introduced in 2001 and will according to its proponents decrease the country's oil dependency through increasing agricultural production. The law also intends to decrease inequalities in the society by giving land to landless peasants. To achieve this, a land tax w...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Formato: | Otro |
| Lenguaje: | sueco Inglés |
| Publicado: |
2007
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| Acceso en línea: | https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/10848/ |
| _version_ | 1855571762077499392 |
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| author | Stålberg, Annie |
| author_browse | Stålberg, Annie |
| author_facet | Stålberg, Annie |
| author_sort | Stålberg, Annie |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | The land reform in Venezuela was introduced in 2001 and will according to its proponents
decrease the country's oil dependency through increasing agricultural production. The law
also intends to decrease inequalities in the society by giving land to landless peasants. To achieve this, a land tax will be introduced on unproductive land and land can also be
expropriated or repossessed by the state. The land reform has been criticised a lot and its opponents believe the reform will result in a major flight of capital as well as decreasing investments because of insecurity and consequently less agricultural production.
The aim of this paper is to find out whether this land reform could be defensible from a socio-economic perspective. To achieve the aim the starting point has been economic theories of how an agrarian reform could be conducted in an economically defensible way and focus has been on efficiency, investments and inequality. Further an interview study in Venezuela in the autumn of 2005 has been carried through.
Does the Venezuelan land reform comply with the theoretical design? There are different
opinions about this. Generally could be claimed that it does not comply with the traditional theories about efficiency, however, if the models are somewhat modified and under certain assumptions the reform might be defensible from an efficiency point of view. When it comes to investments it is uncertain whether they will increase because of secured property rights for the peasants or decrease because of the insecurity that large landowners experience. The final outcome will depend on how the law will be interpreted as well as to what extent the peasants will receive support. The reform will probably reduce inequalities in Venezuela, which could be favourable for the economy but this could also increase insecurity for investors. Further some practical problems might prevent a positive development. |
| format | Otro |
| id | RepoSLU10848 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Swedish Inglés |
| publishDate | 2007 |
| publishDateSort | 2007 |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU108482017-09-25T08:52:24Z https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/10848/ Agrarian reform in Venezuela Stålberg, Annie Development economics and policies Agrarian structure The land reform in Venezuela was introduced in 2001 and will according to its proponents decrease the country's oil dependency through increasing agricultural production. The law also intends to decrease inequalities in the society by giving land to landless peasants. To achieve this, a land tax will be introduced on unproductive land and land can also be expropriated or repossessed by the state. The land reform has been criticised a lot and its opponents believe the reform will result in a major flight of capital as well as decreasing investments because of insecurity and consequently less agricultural production. The aim of this paper is to find out whether this land reform could be defensible from a socio-economic perspective. To achieve the aim the starting point has been economic theories of how an agrarian reform could be conducted in an economically defensible way and focus has been on efficiency, investments and inequality. Further an interview study in Venezuela in the autumn of 2005 has been carried through. Does the Venezuelan land reform comply with the theoretical design? There are different opinions about this. Generally could be claimed that it does not comply with the traditional theories about efficiency, however, if the models are somewhat modified and under certain assumptions the reform might be defensible from an efficiency point of view. When it comes to investments it is uncertain whether they will increase because of secured property rights for the peasants or decrease because of the insecurity that large landowners experience. The final outcome will depend on how the law will be interpreted as well as to what extent the peasants will receive support. The reform will probably reduce inequalities in Venezuela, which could be favourable for the economy but this could also increase insecurity for investors. Further some practical problems might prevent a positive development. Jordreformen i Venezuela introducerades 2001 och ämnar enligt dess förespråkare att minska beroendet av olja, detta genom att öka jordbruksproduktionen. Den avser även att utjämna vissa av samhällets ojämlikheter genom att ge jord till jordlösa bönder samt att införa en skatt på jord för bönder som inte utnyttjar sin mark till fullo. En genomgång av landets jordegendomar och dess ägare är också en del av lagen och under vissa omständigheter kan jord exproprieras eller återtas av staten. Jordreformen har kommit att kritiserats mycket och motståndarna menar att denna lag istället kommer leda till kapitalflykt, mindre investeringar p.g.a. osäkerhet och därmed mindre produktion. Kan jordreformen anses försvarbar ur ett ekonomiskt perspektiv? Detta är frågeställningen i denna uppsats. För att studera detta har utgångspunkten varit teorier om ekonomiskt försvarbara modeller för jordreformer, med fokus på effektivitet, investering samt ojämlikhet. Dessutom har en fältstudie i Venezuela under hösten 2005 genomförts i form av en kvalitativ intervjustudie. Uppfyller då den venezolanska jordreformen den teoretiska modellen? Olika åsikter råder om detta men generellt kan hävdas att den inte uppfyller de traditionella effektivitetsteorierna. Vid viss modifiering av modellerna och under vissa omständigheter kan dock reformen anses försvarbar ur effektivitetssynpunkt. Huruvida investeringarna kommer att öka som ett resultat av reformen är osäkert. Säkrare äganderätt för småbönder kan medföra detta men motverkas av ett osäkrare klimat för storägare. Vilken kraft som slutligen blir den dominerande beror till stor del på hur lagen tolkas samt vilket stöd som kommer att finnas för dem som tilldelas jord. Reformen kommer troligen att verka utjämnande i samhället, vilket i vissa hänseenden kan vara gynnsamt för samhällsekonomin, samtidigt som detta kan öka osäkerheten för investerare. Eventuellt kan också vissa praktiska problem hindra en positiv utveckling. 2007-01-30 Other NonPeerReviewed application/pdf sv https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/10848/1/stalberg_a_170925.pdf Stålberg, Annie, 2006. Agrarian reform in Venezuela : defensible from a socio-economic perspective?. UNSPECIFIED, Uppsala. Uppsala: (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Economics <https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/view/divisions/OID-510.html> urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-s-7116 eng |
| spellingShingle | Development economics and policies Agrarian structure Stålberg, Annie Agrarian reform in Venezuela |
| title | Agrarian reform in Venezuela |
| title_full | Agrarian reform in Venezuela |
| title_fullStr | Agrarian reform in Venezuela |
| title_full_unstemmed | Agrarian reform in Venezuela |
| title_short | Agrarian reform in Venezuela |
| title_sort | agrarian reform in venezuela |
| topic | Development economics and policies Agrarian structure |
| url | https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/10848/ https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/10848/ |