Insurance and Incentives in Sharecropping

This essay surveys some recent empirical works about sharecropping. The basic theoretical trade-offs are discussed in the introduction. Section 1 discusses the empirical research on resource allocation. This section is divided in two subsections: one studying the effects of tenure stability on land improvements, and another comparing the impact of different share rates on input use and farm productivity. Section 2 surveys works testing different arguments raised to explain the design of tenancy contracts. The essay then concludes with a brief summary discussing some important policy implications.