Study offers a new view of when and how governments distribute land

In Kenya, property rights are granted more often by democratic regimes than by autocrats - but decisions tend to be politically motivated regardless of who's in charge. Allocating land for people to use is one of the most powerful tools a government can have. A newly published study by an MIT scholar now identifies the extent to which state land distribution can be a politically charged act. The research, focused on Kenya in recent decades, challenges some conventional wisdom while bringing new empirical data to the subject. To explain the "property rights gap" in some countries - in which people do not own the land they work on - numerous scholars have concluded that many nation-states are too "weak," and lacking in administrative capacity, to grant extensive rights. This study finds something different: Even supposedly low-capacity states can grant land rights, but they generally choose not to, especially when autocratic leaders are in charge. Instead, property rights are granted more frequently when democratic regimes are in power - though these decisions are made seemingly to bolster electoral support.