Publication: Backyarding: Theory and Evidence for South Africa
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2018-11
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2018-11-12
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This paper explores the incentives for backyarding, an expanding category of urban land-use in developing countries that has proliferated South Africa. The theoretical model exposes the trade-off faced by the homeowner in deciding how much backyard land to rent out: loss of yard space consumption in return for a gain in rental income. Under common forms for preferences, the homeowner's own-consumption of yard space falls as land rent increases, causing more land to be rented to backyarders. With better job access for backyarders raising land rent by increasing their willingness-to-pay, the analysis then predicts that the extent of backyarding will be higher for parcels with good job access. This hypothesis is tested by combining a satellite- based count of backyard dwellings per parcel with job-access data. The empirical results strongly confirm the prediction that better job access increases the extent of backyarding.
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“Brueckner, Jan K.; Rabe, Claus; Selod, Harris. 2018. Backyarding: Theory and Evidence for South Africa. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8636. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30842 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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