Rational Resistance to Land Privatization: The Response of Rural Producers to Agrarian Reforms in Pre- and Post-Soviet Russia

Abstract

A UK-based economist and historian adapts the Fernandez-Rodrik model to demonstrate how rural opposition to land reform in present-day Russia is a consequence of individually rational decisions by members of former state and collective farms regarding whether to support further land reform or preserve the status quo (collective farming), given widespread uncertainties regarding the costs and benefits of private fanning. The paper also explores historical parallels to the present situation during the post-Emancipation and Stolypin eras, when peasant communes resisted enclosures and restructuring of rights to land, in part as a consequence of the unclear nature of property rights. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: N00, O13, Q15. 37 references.