Abstract
In economics, land has been traditionally assumed to be a fixed production factor, both in terms of quantity supplied and mobility, as opposed to capital and labor, which are usually considered to be mobile factors, at least to some extent. Yet, in the last decade, international investors have expressed an unexpected interest in farmland and in land-related investments, with the demand for land brusquely rising at an unprecedented pace. In spite of a fast-growing literature analyzing the variety of “spaces” affected by large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs), the contemporary process of “commodification” of land embedded in this phenomenon has taken present day economists by surprise. This paper reviews the evolution over time of the concept of land in economics and it suggests how different aspects of this evolution are relevant to the understanding of contemporary LSLAs. Rather than presuming to analyze in a systematic and comprehensive manner the immense literature in land economics, this article investigates what makes land a peculiar and complex commodity. Indeed, different branches of economic thought, at different moments in time, pointed out that the location of land in space matters; that land is a living and fundamental component of the ecosystem; that it is a valuable economic asset, and yet, it is often hard to value it in pure monetary terms; eventually, that land is intrinsically connected to societies, cultural and spiritual identities, mores, and institutions. Through a brief history of the evolution of the concept of land in economics, this paper identifies four broad categories—namely, space, economics, environment, and institutions—that help understanding land as a peculiar good. These four elements characterize land as a commodity, as well as its peculiarities, and constitute the prerequisites of a conceptual framework for the analysis and the understanding of the forces at play in the contemporary wave of large-scale land acquisitions.
Highlights
Rethinking Land as a Commodity in the 21st CenturyIn a fast-changing, complex, and globalized world, assumptions, theories, and definitions that have been deemed to reflect well our world for long time, suddenly, need to be questioned, adapted, and updated
Search terms comprised large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs), land grabbing, and other locutions and compound forms typically used to refer to this phenomenon, such as transnational land deals, large-scale land investments, large-scale land transactions, land-based investments, foreign land acquisition, and land rush
I organized this review around four aspects-namely economics, geography, environment, and institutions, that proved to be a practical way to categorize, to order, and to connect different LSLAs features with the range of economic theories that could contribute to their understanding
Summary
In a fast-changing, complex, and globalized world, assumptions, theories, and definitions that have been deemed to reflect well our world for long time, suddenly, need to be questioned, adapted, and updated. The economic science seems to be not equipped yet with a conceptual framework allowing for the full understanding of the mechanisms and the forces at play in such a newly born international market for land. For this reason, the different sections of this article aim—each one with a different specific focus—at filling this gap. While arguing that a new holistic conceptual framework for land is required in order to reflect the multifaceted features of the current LSLAs, I endorse in this paper the idea that looking at the history of different branches and moments of the economic thought and other parallel disciplines, can offer invaluable insights in deciphering the present—and the future—of the most recent rush for land in human history.
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