Property Rights and Land Use on the Brazilian Frontier: Analysis and Lessons from U.S. Economic History

本研究的目的是分析巴西边境地区的产权制度和土地利用。巴西边境，特别是亚马逊地区，一直是全世界关注的焦点，因为人们担心雨林被迅速破坏，当这些土地转为农业时，土壤养分会流失。亚马逊雨林是世界上现存最大的热带雨林，它的丧失或严重枯竭可能对全球变暖和生物多样性产生严重影响。此外，巴西是最大和最有影响力的发展中国家之一，它面临着发展中特有的许多问题————人口迅速增长和相应的提高生活水平、进行土地改革以及同时保护环境的压力。这个项目将包括收集和分析巴西从1940年代开始的土地保有政策。然后将这些政策与19世纪美国边境的土地所有权和扩张进行比较。该项目将利用巴西农业普查数据，构建土地权属不确定性指标，并分析巴西4个州1940-1980年和6个亚马逊州1960-1985年的土地权属状况。将特别注意土地所有制不确定对农业投资、肥料使用、永久性结构的价值和永久性作物种植程度的影响。

The purpose of this research is to analyze the property rights system and land use on the Brazilian frontier. The Brazilian frontier, especially the Amazon region, has been the focus of world-wide attention owing to concerns about the rapid destruction of the rainforest and the loss of soil nutrients when these lands are converted to agriculture. The Amazon represents the largest remaining tropical rainforest stand in the world, and its loss or severe depletion could have serious effects on global warming and biodiversity. Further, Brazil is one of the largest and most influential developing countries and it faces many of the problems endemic in development--rapid population growth and corresponding pressures to raise standards of living, for land reform, and at the same time for protection of the environment. This project will entail the assembly and analysis of land tenure policies in Brazil beginning the 1940's. These policies will then be compared to land tenure and the expansion of the U.S. frontier during the 1800's. The project will construct measures of land tenure uncertainty and analyze these tenure conditions in four Brazilian states from 1940-1980, and six Amazon states from 1960-1985 using the Brazilian Agricultural census. Particular attention will be paid to the effects of land tenure uncertainty on agricultural investment, the use of fertilizers, the value of permanent structures, and the extent to which permanent crops were grown.