interest to see if land markets equalize factors and transfer land to more productive and relatively land scarce producers. Second, land markets will operate more smoothly if clear information on land ownership is available at low cost and social norms ensure that a landlord who temporarily transfers land through rental does not risk the loss of this asset. This has historically provided the justification for public registries. Ill-defined or insecure property rights, including a failure of public institutions to respect and compensate existing rights in case of expropriation for public purpose, may put productivity-enhancing transactions out of reach for all or part of the population. Even if rights are clear and respected, inefficient institutions that make registering transactions costly and cumbersome will reduce the scope for land market transactions. This will either undermine the ability to reap associated gains in terms of productivity and financial market development or drive such transactions into informality.

The paper is structured as follows. Section two discusses conceptual background and evidence from the literature regarding the role of land markets, their evolution over time, institutional pre-conditions for effective functioning, and welfare- and productivity impacts. Section three uses LSMS-ISA data to descriptively explore determinants and impacts of land market operation, their contribution to productivity, and potential barriers to their functioning in the six countries. Section four explores determinants of land use efficiency as well as land market participation econometrically showing that, given their lower efficiency, female managers/owners might face tenure-related barriers to land rental market participation that may merit policy-makers’ attention. Section five concludes.

# **2. Background and justification**

While Africa has traditionally been described as land abundant, high levels of population growth imply that land is becoming more scarce in many countries, as documented for example in Mali (Guirkinger and Platteau 2014) and Ethiopia (Headey _et al._ 2014). Economic development and structural transformation involve specialization and a move of part of the labor force out of the agricultural sector that create heterogeneity in the population that increases the scope for efficiency-enhancing land transfers. Institutions to allow conduct of such transactions at low cost and in a way that, at least in the case of rental, does not involve a significant risk of land loss, can increase productivity of land use and help diversify the economy and foster economic development (Badiane _et al._ 2012). Land markets are thus largely absent in subsistence economies where land is relatively equally distributed, the skill-intensity of agricultural cultivation low, and the availability of non-farm opportunities limited. But, as the economy starts to diversity, the scope for efficiency-enhancing land transfers beyond immediate kin and for periods that may be longer than for just one season assumes considerable importance.

As leasing does not require any change in land ownership, land owners, even if they give up self-cultivation, will not have to forsake the benefits from owning land, including the ability to use land as collateral for loans to start nonagricultural enterprises (Deininger and Feder 2001, Swinnen _et al._ 2006). To the contrary, it provides access to regular income streams in the form of rents (Deininger 2003) which, if land is transferred to more productive producers and markets are competitive, will be higher than what owners could obtain from self-cultivation (Deininger _et al._ 3