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Marcos Gallacher, Elena Barrón, Daniel Lema y Victor Brescia

12/2002

Land tenure issues have attracted attention from economists. This is especially true in developing countries, where the agricultural sector is of considerable importance. Land rental has been viewed both as a efficiencyincreasing and efficiency reducing institution. Aldo Ferrer, in his volume on Argentine economic development suggests that "the characteristics of the tenure regime [existing in Argentina in the first half of the XX century] reduced the possibilities of growth of agricultural production" (Ferrer, 1965 page 114). According to Ferrer, one of the reasons why land rental reduces agricultural growth is "the lack of interest of tenants in making fixed investments in lands that were not their own" (our translation).