Conclusions and policy implications

Researchers and policymakers often attribute low levels of technology adoption in developing countries to problems of insecure property rights and ineffective collective action. Customary property regimes are often equated with insecure property rights, which are in turn associated with inefficient resource use and underinvestment in land improvements. Constraints on communities' ability to undertake collective action are similarly seen as obstacles to the adoption of large capital investments. But despite the growing body of theoretical and empirical studies of how property rights and collective action institutions can constrain or facilitate the adoption of agricultural and natural resource management technologies, the effects of these institutions have often been misinterpreted, either because the studies have looked only at the direct effects or because their outcomes have been confounded with the effects of other factors. This volume weaves together conceptual frameworks, guidelines for empirical research, and original empirical evidence on the relationships between property rights, collective action, and technology adoption. Overall, the volume shows the importance of considering the interrelations between property rights and collective action institutions, the feedback effects of new technologies on property rights, the importance of social capital on collective action, and the direct and indirect effects of property rights, collective action, and the many other determinants of technology adoption.

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