Focusing the Research: The Role of Property Rights in Reducing Poverty

We KNOW:
· Economic growth is the key to reducing absolute poverty and raising standards of living.
· One source of economic growth is increased productivity, the ability to increase output per unit of resource input.
· For example, teaching a worker how to use a machine increases the output per unit of his labor input, so that he produces more than he used to during each hour of work.
· Productivity is increased through investment in human and physical capital.
· People invest in their human capital by getting education, training, or experience.
· Investment in physical capital includes developing and/or purchasing the buildings, machines, and equipment that make human labor more productive.
· People take better care of things they own. Property rights act as an incentive for people to protect the value of their possessions.

We WANT to know: · Are property rights a tool in fighting poverty? · Does the existence of strong property rights promote economic growth? · Does clear title to land encourage (act as an incentive for) capital investment? Research Question: On the Amazonian frontier of Brazil, are landholders with title more or less likely than landholders without clear title to invest in capital improvements to their land?

Hypothesis:
Based on your knowledge of incentives and property rights, what do you expect to find in Ricardo’s survey data?