The Impact of Joint Land Titling: Evidence from Vietnam

In Vietnam, Land-Use Right Certificates (henceforth referred as LURCs) can be issued to either individuals or households. If the land and asset are defined as common property of husband and wife, both have the right of land use or asset ownership. In this study, we assess the impact of land use rights on household welfare using Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys 2004 and 2014. We find a strong effect of jointly-titled LURCs of residential land on formal and informal credit. Having jointly-titled LURCs increases the amount of formal credit by 35.1% and informal credit by 18.9%. We also estimate the effect of having jointly-titled LURCs on per capita expenditure. Jointly-titled LURCs of agricultural land and residential land help households increase per capita expenditure by 1.6% and 2.5%, respectively.