Urban Land Rights and Child Nutritional Status in Peru, 2004

Abstract

Advocates of land-titling programs in developing countries posit that these programs lead to a multitude of benefits, including health improvements. This paper presents the results of a child health survey of several Lima communities after various time exposures to Peru's urban land-titling program. The results provide suggestive evidence that improved property rights increase children's weight but not their height, which is consistent with previous work on the topic. However, titles also appear to raise children's risk of being overweight or obese, implying that the observed weight gain is not necessarily an improvement in nutritional status.

Keywords: Land ownership and tenure, Nutritional status, Development policy, Overweight, Obesity, Anthropometry, Underdevelopment, Latin America, Peru

JEL Classification: Q15, I12, O2