How does government legal intervention affect the process of transformation of state-owned agricultural land? The research methods and their practical application

Abstract

In many transitional economies all over the world, government and state land agencies continue to intervene in agricultural land market. For example, in post-socialist countries, the frequent legal changes have been affecting i.e. the structure of agricultural land ownership and area of agricultural holdings. The main purpose of this article is to suggest a research method to investigate the influence of legal instruments on the process of transformation of state-owned agricultural land and then to test the applicability of this method in a selected area. Because legal regulations affect various spheres of life, and such effects can be measured on different scales or in different ranges, the dynamics indicator used in this study serves an adequate tool for studying and comparing changes occurring over time. Additionally, the graphical analysis allowed to compare the observed developments. The analyses carried out for the exemplary post-socialist European country - Poland as a whole country and for every province as well showed that the actual impact of legal regulations on agrarian changes is different in areas which are different spatially and environmentally. In further research the influence of the government intervention should be also considered along with legal regulations concerning private sector.