Tim Hanstad

Chandler Foundation CEO Tim Hanstad explores what philanthropy can learn from the inclusive prosperity and social progress of the Nordic countries.

Chandler Foundation CEO Tim Hanstad explores the intersection of inequality, social mobility, and good government.

Tim Hanstad writes about inequality and about how philanthropists should approach their giving with a long-term, systems mindset.

In an age fueled by globalization and focused on the struggling citizens of the urban metropolis, it might come as a surprise to learn that most of the world’s 1.4 billion poorest people are still rural. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these populations lack ownership of—and rights to—the land that forms their principal source of livelihood. Although land reform and related legal work have transformed the lives of millions of families by providing secure land rights, not all such efforts… Show more

In an age fueled by globalization and focused on the struggling citizens of the urban metropolis, it might come as a surprise to learn that most of the world’s 1.4 billion poorest people are still rural. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these populations lack ownership of—and rights to—the land that forms their principal source of livelihood. Although land reform and related legal work have transformed the lives of millions of families by providing secure land rights, not all such efforts have succeeded. That mix of success and failure has been a big part of the reason that, in recent years, the conventional wisdom concerning law and land tenure reform—what is needed, what is possible, and how such reform contributes to pro-poor development—has changed, sometimes in striking ways. In this timely and important volume, lawyers from the Rural Development Institute and the University of Washington’s School of Law in Seattle use four decades worth of research on the results of land tenure reform efforts around the world in order to address how we might better meet the struggles to understand and change the plight of the rural poor. Show less

Book chapter in "Agricultural Land Redistribution: Toward Greater Consensus" by Hans P. Binswanger-Mkhize, Camille Bourguignon, Rogier van den Brink (co-eds)

Land reform legislation in India, designed to redress issues of poverty and landlessness, has in most cases, suffered from design flaws and a failure of implementation. Land reform efforts are also stymied due to a lack of political will, scarcity of land and resources. Research summarised in this article seeks to offer an innovative and alternative solution, one that involves the provision of amply-sized homestead plots. As experiments in other countries, replicated in certain districts of… Show more

Land reform legislation in India, designed to redress issues of poverty and landlessness, has in most cases, suffered from design flaws and a failure of implementation. Land reform efforts are also stymied due to a lack of political will, scarcity of land and resources. Research summarised in this article seeks to offer an innovative and alternative solution, one that involves the provision of amply-sized homestead plots. As experiments in other countries, replicated in certain districts of Karnataka have borne out, such homestead and garden plots hold out the prospect of substantial benefits to poor, rural households, offering them much more than a place to build a house. Show less

Chapter co-authored with Roy Prosterman in book "The Farmer Threat: the Political Economy of Agrarian Reform in Post-Soviet Russia" (Donald Van Atta, ed.)

Contents:
* Philippine land reform in the 1980s / Jeffrey Riedinger
* Explaining anomalies in agrarian reform : lessons from South India / Ronald J. Herring
* Bangladesh : a strategy for agrarian reform / F. Tomasson Jannuzi and James T. Peach
* China : a fieldwork-based appraisal of the household responsibility system / Roy L. Prosterman and Timothy M. Hanstad
* Land reform in Central America / Rupert W. Scofield
* Agrarian reform in Mexico : a cautionary tale / Merilee… Show more

Contents:
* Philippine land reform in the 1980s / Jeffrey Riedinger
* Explaining anomalies in agrarian reform : lessons from South India / Ronald J. Herring
* Bangladesh : a strategy for agrarian reform / F. Tomasson Jannuzi and James T. Peach
* China : a fieldwork-based appraisal of the household responsibility system / Roy L. Prosterman and Timothy M. Hanstad
* Land reform in Central America / Rupert W. Scofield
* Agrarian reform in Mexico : a cautionary tale / Merilee S. Grindle
* Land tenure and land reform in Brazil / Anthony L. Hall
* Land tenure in collectivized agriculture : the Soviet Union, Poland, and Hungary / Karen M. Brooks
* Ten years after : land redistribution in Zimbabwe, 1980-1990 / Michael Bratton
* The land question in South Africa / Daniel Weiner
* Issues for the near future / Roy L. Prosterman, Timothy M. Hanstad, and Mary N. Temple Show less

Excerpt

Strife and social instability characterize the Philippines' recent history. One need not look far for the roots of this problem. In the Philippines' large agricultural sector, sixty percent of the people cultivate land they do not own. 1 For years, these agricultural laborers and tenant farmers have provided the grass-root support for Philippine guerrilla movements. 2 Without a comprehensive land reform program, revolution in the Philippines may be inevitable. 3

The high… Show more

Excerpt

Strife and social instability characterize the Philippines' recent history. One need not look far for the roots of this problem. In the Philippines' large agricultural sector, sixty percent of the people cultivate land they do not own. 1 For years, these agricultural laborers and tenant farmers have provided the grass-root support for Philippine guerrilla movements. 2 Without a comprehensive land reform program, revolution in the Philippines may be inevitable. 3

The high proportion of landlessness among Philippine farmers has also resulted in poor agricultural productivity. Philippine rice yields are much lower than the yields attained by Asian nations where most rice farmers have acquired ownership of the land they cultivate through land reform. 4 Experts have pointed to the land tenure situation as the most basic cause of the poor agricultural productivity. 5

In an attempt to solve these problems, the 1986 Philippine Constitution contains unprecedented (in the Philippines) provisions mandating that the Philippine government implement a land reform program. 6 Specifically, the constitution provides that "the State shall encourage and undertake the just distribution of all agricultural lands . . . subject to the payment of just compensation." 7 The success of any land reform program 8 rests largely upon the interpretation of "just compensation." To a large extent, this interpretation will determine the required cost of the program Show less