Book Description

"Land is the key input for economies in the earliest stages of development, when seventy-five percent to ninety percent of the labor force is engaged in agriculture. Concentration of land ownership has been a common, and usually quite damaging, feature of most societies throughout history as both the cause and the result of access to power. Highly unequal control of land typically implies severe inequality of income and welfare, as well. Landlessness has been at the root of many of the world's most serious and persistent problems, including severe exploitation and the deprivation of political rights and basic human needs. Historically, the motivation for many revolutions has been access to land. This volume reviews the land reform experiences of multiple countries during the twentieth century. The experiences l covered llustrate the widespread need for reform, the great difficulties facing major changes, and the extreme cost of failure in delicate political moments. Looking ahead, the biggest challenge will be to avoid the injustices and inequality that have accompanied land concentration in the past"--