Are Land Reforms the key to economic growth? A comparative literature review of Southeast Asia and Latin America

白宇凱(Cesar Abbott)

《拉丁美洲經貿季刊》 43期 (2020/12) Pp. 68-81

摘要

The pressing development divide that exists between regions such as East Asia and Latin America continues to puzzle both scholars and policymakers. Already more than twenty years after the last significant wave of academic research into the aforementioned topic, the lack of contemporary research on the issue calls for new and updated literature on just what explains this continuing divide. Through the analysis undertaken in this research, the author wishes to revive discussion on such an important area of development studies with a comparison of countries from both the Asian and Latin American regions. The following literature review will also aim to contribute to the development of a theoretical framework in which scholars in the field can better position themselves and conduct further research. The following analysis will adopt a different methodology than previous cases that researched the issue in question. This analysis will take a look at four already published quantitative cases of Southeast Asia, namely from Cambodia and Vietnam, with four already published quantitative cases of Latin America, namely from Argentina and Mexico. This literature review will analyze the variables that updated country-cases take into consideration in trying to explain growth and will, at the same time, try to make the case for the need to continue discussion and deep analysis on the role of institutional variables, that is, the role of economic and political institutions on growth, going beyond the classical ‘land reform/land titles catalyzes economic growth' equation.

關鍵字

Development ； Economic Reform ； Land Reform ； Southeast Asia ； Latin America