Project Profile: Nicaragua

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Project Overview and Contact Information

Project Title: Land Market Liberalization and the Land Access of the Rural Poor: Lessons from Recent Reforms in Central America

Term: November 1999-June 2001

Funding: World Bank, USAID BASIS

Amount: Approximately $150,000

Project contacts: Malcolm Childress, LTC Researcher (608-262-9548 mdchildr@facstaff.wisc.edu); Michael Carter, Principal Investigator, (Professor, Dept. of Agricultural and Applied Economics; 608-263-2478 carter@aae.wisc.edu); Brad Barham (Associate Professor, Dept. of Agricultural and Applied Economics; 608-265-3090 barham@aae.wisc.edu)

Participating institutions: Fundación Internacional para el Desafío Económico Global (FIDEG), Managua, Nicaragua (fideg@tmx.com.ni)

Summary: This research project will investigate how recent market-friendly reforms in Nicaragua have affected the lives of the rural poor.

Objective: To perform empirically sound and policy relevant research on the complex relationship between institutional change, economic performance and poverty.

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Land Market Liberalization and the Land Access of the Rural Poor:
Lessons from Recent Reforms in Central America

Background

During the past ten years, Latin America has gone through a major transformation in its economic panorama. Most countries in the region have implemented sweeping reforms that led to the emergence of an economic system based on market orientation, openness and competition.

With a population of 4.1 million (1994) and GDP per capita $340 (1994) (in the US it is $22,700), Nicaragua is one of the hemisphere's poorest countries. With agriculture accounting for 46% of GNP (1994) and 28% of the workforce, rural poverty and productivity are critical challenges for the country's development. This research project will investigate how recent market-friendly reforms in Nicaragua have affected the lives of the rural poor.

Project Goals

• Assess the effectiveness of the land market as a mechanism to allocate land efficiently across herogeneous households
• Evaluate the role of imperfections in rural land and financial markets in determining the direction of land transfers and changes in the agrarian structure
• Identify any policy interventions needed to make land markets work for the rural poor and for the economy in general.

Project Activities

Publications

• LTC Publications about Nicaragua

Trip Reports

• Malcolm Childress, November 17-27, 1999

Background Information about Nicaragua

• World Factbook entry
• Nicaragua Country Data (World Bank; pdf format)
• Nicaragua Country Brief (World Bank)
• Background Note (US State Department)
• Links to Development Information (Eldis)
• Links to Other Web Resources (Latin American Network Information Center)

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