Abstract
Land has a strategic position in rural areas because of its multidimensional roles but its distribution is unequal. This article
evaluates the impact of secured property rights on per head expenditures, crop and livestock productivity, and poverty status
of rural households. Information was collected from 341 rural households of Punjab Province of Pakistan. The study proceeds
in two steps. At first, the linear probability model was employed to find the factors of tenancy arrangements. The results show
that mostly the males were owner of the land, more educated and having more physical assets but fixed-rent farmers were
mostly female, less educated and having fewer assets. Second, the study uses the predicted linear probability as instrument in
the second stage. The results however show that secured property rights tend to enhance per head expenditures and farm
productivity and reduce the household poverty. Other results show that education and ownership of farm land have positive
and significant impact on per head expenditures whereas, farm productivity have negative and significant impact on poverty
level. Policy makers should focus to improve the access to land, which is critical to improve welfare and reduce poverty. In
recognition of this finding, we suggest that there is need to revisit the issue of land tenure security and access to credit by
formulating and implementing land reforms in Pakistan.
