Gold and silver mining in the 16th and 17th centuries, land titles and agricultural productivity

- One of the first studies to analyze the role of land titles in explaining agricultural productivity.
- Uses per capita accumulated value of gold and silver production in the 16th-17th centuries as instruments for land rights.
- Shows that enforcement of land title is a significant source of inequality in agricultural productivity across the world.
- Cross country evidence for a sample of 93 countries over 1970-2012.

Although agricultural productivity is critical for economic development very little is known about the causes of the large dispersion in agricultural productivity across the world. Microeconomic studies increasingly stress the lack of land rights in many poor countries as an important source of low productivity. This paper examines the role played by land titles in explaining differences in agricultural productivity for 93 countries. Using the per capita accumulated value of gold and silver production in the 16th and 17th centuries as instruments for land rights it is shown that enforcement of land titles is a significant source of agricultural productivity inequality across the world.