The Effect of Inequality in Land Distribution on Agricultural Productivity (Case Study: Selected Islamic Countries)

Land is always considered as one of the main factors of agricultural production. The effects of land and its features on productivity could also be considered from this point of view. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the land distribution inequality on agricultural productivity. In order to investigate the main purpose, two steps were considered: Estimation of the production function with regards to land as an important factor on production and evaluation of changes in productivity if land distribution moves towards equality. All the results were based on panel data set from a selected number of Islamic countries. Results indicated that the land distribution had a significant influence on agricultural productivity, though this influence was not through decreasing returns to farm size. This influence was so that a decrease in the land distribution inequality coefficient would increase the productivity of labors among the selected countries by 12 percent.

JEL Classification: O47, Q15, Q1, C23