Introduction

The gradual decline of institutions that secure property rights presents us with an interesting puzzle. These institutions have a number of features that should display positive-feedback effects and ensure their continued strength. Land documentation systems, which constitute key components of these institutions, can aid informed and well-connected members of society in acquiring swathes of land, giving these actors an incentive to perpetuate such documentation systems (Scott 1998, 48). Further, because titles and other forms of land documents and records can help them hold onto their property, we can expect landowners to invest in ensuring the efficacious operation of these systems. Beyond helping resolve issues of ownership, record systems create incentives for their perpetuation by facilitating the productive use of land and the transformation of land rights into capital (de Soto 2000). People involved in these modes of using land thus have an interest in upholding effective record systems. Also, by rendering such exploitation of land more profitable, these institutional arrangements draw new actors to these land uses and so increase the pool of those dedicated to institutional stability.