RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Prices, Land Tenure Institutions, and Geography: A Matching Analysis of Farmland Abandonment in Post-Socialist Eastern Europe
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 425
OP 443
DO 10.3368/le.88.3.425
VO 88
IS 3
A1 Alix-Garcia, Jennifer
A1 Kuemmerle, Tobias
A1 Radeloff, Volker C.
YR 2012
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/88/3/425.abstract
AB This paper uses remote sensing data from 1989 to 2000 to examine the impacts of price liberalization, land tenure, and biophysical characteristics on farmland abandonment in the border region of Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Using regression analysis and matching estimators, we find that differences in biophysical characteristics, rather than in tenure systems, best explain the variation in abandonment rates within Poland. The difference in abandonment rates between Poland and Slovakia partially results from differences in land reform strategy, and abandonment in Ukraine takes a unique trajectory because of the incompleteness of the land reform and the lack of outside opportunities for residents. (JEL Q15, R14)