This dissertation consists of three essays focusing on aspects of the economic development of the Paraguayan agricultural sector. The first essay assesses the relationship between farm size and productivity. Smaller farms are found to have higher net farm income per hectare than larger farms and to be more technically efficient than larger farms. The second essay attempts to explain the finding that rural Paraguayan households with female landowners have lower net farm income than those without female landowners, controlling for farm size. Households with female heads, female landowners and female farm managers are all found to have distinct agricultural production patterns compared to the corresponding group of males, planting subsistence rather than cash crops and engaging in livestock and dairy production rather than planting crops. Female-headed households have higher land productivity and rates of return on assets than dual-headed households, while those households with female landowners have lower productivity and rates of return. These results indicate that ownership of land is insufficient to ensure women's welfare: control over land is key. The third essay examines the claim that the land rental market can be an effective means of redistributing access to if not ownership of, land to the rural poor. The land sales market is also examined. The land rental market in Paraguay's rural areas is found to be very thin, due at least in part to a lack of available credit for inputs. Renting in substantial amounts of land is found to contribute significantly to household per capita income. From this collection of essays, three conclusions emerge: first, land redistribution is justified on efficiency as well as equity grounds; second, effective control over land is essential to improving the welfare of women; and third, without substantial state intervention to provide credit for inputs, the land rental market will continue to be ineffective at redistributing access to land or alleviating rural poverty.

This dissertation explores the interconnection between land ownership inequality and functioning of rural factor markets in Turkey. It investigates the effectiveness and efficiency of land and labor markets in generating and distributing economic opportunities within agriculture and, thereby, in reducing rural inequality. In addition, the dissertation examines allocative efficiency in Turkish agriculture by testing for an inverse size-yield relationship across farms, and by econometric analysis of the economic and social determinants of participation in tenancy and labor markets. I combine historical, empirical and theoretical investigation to produce an analysis of the functioning of rural factor markets, focusing on the effects of land ownership inequality on rural factor markets in Turkey. In investigating labor and land relations through factor markets, the first important finding of this research is the evidence of tremendous amount of inequality in incomes, land ownership and rural factor market participation. In order to understand how this inequality comes about and affects markets I investigate four important issues. First, I look at the utilization of land and labor resources by looking at inverse size yield relationship in Turkish agriculture. Inverse size yield relationship suggests that as farm size gets smaller yield per acre gets larger. Second, I use a maximum likelihood estimation to investigate the determinants of land and labor market participation. Third, I look at the link between land ownership inequality and market failure via formulating an index, which is utilized as a measure and account of market malfunctioning. Market malfunctioning, is a normatively defined index which looks at the deviation of measured inequalities of incomes relative to the inequality that would prevail under neoclassical markets. One of the most important findings of this dissertation is a strong evidence for inverse size yield relationship in Turkish agriculture, which reflects the inability of rural markets to mediate effectively between land owners and labor suppliers. In addition, findings of this research suggest that unequal distribution of agricultural assets, most importantly owned land is instrumental in the ability of markets to offer economic opportunities and allocate resources efficiently.

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