Seminarios

Coautor: Robert Heilmayr (University of California, Santa Barbara)

 

Abstract: Several countries have integrated indigenous lands into national property rights systems, formalizing indigenous people's claims to ancestral lands but restricting traditional institutions' authority to enforce property rights. This paper quantifies the long-term impacts that such a reform had on Chile's largest indigenous group, the Mapuche. The early closure of a national court that enforced property rights opened a wedge in access to courts among neighboring reservations from 1931 to 1979. Better access to courts fueled a dramatic transition from communitarian to individual ownership. Shifts in production practices suggest the security and marketability of property rights improved. Material conditions, schooling, and soil preservation improved; but Mapuche presence fell. Only a small fraction of the results can be attributed to changes in the ethnic composition of reservations. These results suggest that efficiency gains from individual property titles might come at the cost of reduced indigenous presence.