Backyarding: Theory And Evidence For South Africa
Year: 2018
Type: report
Abstract: This paper explores the incentives for backyarding, an expanding category of urban land-use in developing countries that has proliferated South Africa. The theoretical model exposes the trade-off faced by the homeowner in deciding how much backyard land to rent out: loss of yard space consumption in return for a gain in rental income. Under common forms for preferences, the homeowner's own-consumption of yard space falls as land rent increases, causing more land to be rented to backyarders. With better job access for backyarders raising land rent by increasing their willingness-to-pay, the analysis then predicts that the extent of backyarding will be higher for parcels with good job access. This hypothesis is tested by combining a satellite- based count of backyard dwellings per parcel with job-access data. The empirical results strongly confirm the prediction that better job access increases the extent of backyarding.
Authors: Jan K. Brueckner, Claus Rabe, Harris Selod
Institutions: World Bank, University of California, Irvine
Language: English
Subfield: Urban Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3124098078