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Land reform distribution of land & institutions in rural Ethiopia: analysis of inequality with dirty data Bereket Kebede, School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia & CSAE, University of Oxford WPS/2006-05 Download the Paper (PDF format) - January 1, 2006 Tell a colleague about it. Printing Tips: Select 'print as image' in the Acrobat print dialog if you have trouble printing. ABSTRACT: There are two either explicitly or implicitly and widely accepted ideas about the distribution of land in Ethiopia after the reform of 1975. First, land distribution in rural Ethiopia is highly equitable, for example compared to other African countries where private ownership exists. Second, the land distribution pattern currently observed is basically explained by what happened after the reform; hence, pre-reform tenures do not help us understand post-reform land distribution. This paper questions both these ideas. Using formal inequality indexes and a methodology that explicitly considers measurement errors, the empirical results indicate that both inter- and intra-regional inequalities are high; inequality in the distribution of land is as high as or even higher than other African countries. The paper also argues that the post-reform distribution is likely influenced by pre-reform distribution and calls for a more detailed historical analysis that attempts to understand the link between old tenure structures and land distribution after the land reform. SUGGESTED CITATION: Bereket Kebede, "Land reform distribution of land & institutions in rural Ethiopia: analysis of inequality with dirty data" (January 1, 2006). The Centre for the Study of African Economies Working Paper Series. Working Paper 249. http://www.bepress.com/csae/paper249