Impact of legal reform on sustainable land management in Tigray, Ethiopia

Abstract

This study provides insight into the implementation of the most recent land law reform in Tigray, Ethiopia. I use a two round panel of data from 2006 when the law was passed and 2010, four years after enactment, to explore the knowledge and perceptions of the new law, and to study the impact the legal knowledge (as a proxy for the value of the policy) on conservation investments. Results reveal mixed perceptions of the law and an increase in legal knowledge between 2006 and 2010 although this is more attributed to time rather than to direct dissemination by the land administration committees. Econometric regressions using Instrumental variable regression and control function methods to control for endogeneity of knowledge and unobserved heterogeneity provide evidence of significant positive effects of the law on conservation investments.