TY  - JOUR
AU  - McMillan,Margaret S.
AU  - Masters,William A.
AU  - Kazianga,Harounan
TI  - Rural Demography, Public Services and Land Rights in Africa:  
A Village-Level Analysis in Burkina Faso
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 17718
PY  - 2011
Y2  - December 2011
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17718
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17718.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Margaret S. McMillan
Tufts University
Department of Economics
114a Braker Hall
Medford, MA 02155
Tel: 617/627-3137
Fax: 617/627-3197
E-Mail: margaret.mcmillan@tufts.edu

William Masters
Tufts University
E-Mail: william.masters@tufts.edu

Harounan Kazianga
Department of Economics
Oklahoma State University
Business 324
Stillwater, OK 74078
Tel: (405) 744-5110
E-Mail: harounan.kazianga@okstate.edu
AB  - This paper uses historical census data from Burkina Faso to characterize local demographic pressures associated with internal migration into river valleys after Onchocerciasis eradication, combined with a new survey of village elders to document change over time and differences across villages in local public goods provision, market institutions and land use rights. We hypothesize that higher local population densities are associated with more public goods and a transition from open-access to regulated land use. Controlling for province or village fixed effects, we find that villages’ variance in population associated with proximity to rivers is closely correlated with higher levels of infrastructure, markets and individual land rights, as opposed to familial or communal rights.  Responding to population growth with both improved public services and private property rights is consistent with both scale effects in public good provision, and changes in the scarcity of land.
ER  -